Cell 66 - A Star Wars Story
by Calidor
Summary: The Republic has fallen and Clone trooper Six is desperate to make amends for killing a Jedi Master under Order 66. When he rescues a Jedi prisoner on the brink of death after years of torture by Vader's Inquisitors, he feels strangely drawn to her. Is she his chance for revenge or will she embrace the dark side and bring death to his ship and crew?
1. Chapter 1

Please note, this is a piece of fanfiction and I do not own any rights to the Star Wars universe.

CELL 66

A Star

Wars Story

The Republic has fallen...

Times are dark, as the Emperor

extends his dominion over the powerless

Senate. Unchecked, Imperial Forces increase their

iron grasp across the planets of the inner and outer rim.

Clone trooper Six, has deserted from the Imperial Army, desperate to make

amends for killing a Jedi Master under Order 66. With a ship, the Kraken, he has built

up a small cell of freedom fighters. A band of outcasts displaced from their homes by the

ravages of the Empire and with one common, burning goal: to stop the Emperors reign of terror

at any cost...

**Kraken**

Six sat back and surveyed his crew, heads bent over the plans for their next mission. There were maps and diagrams displayed on a multitude of data screens splayed across the round table and they were all talking excitedly, especially young Circuit. He was a key player for once and was making the most of his new-found importance. Usually the other crew members were cursing him for some technical glitch with their mostly ancient equipment, when it was only down to his genius that it worked at all. Now Six had bought him a brand-new toy - with the last of their credits - and Kit was the centre of attention, happily explaining what he needed to make the whole plan work.

'So, Khel, you'll micro jump us in next to our target, get us as close as we can to make the uplink faster. At top speed my simulations show its gonna take me 20 seconds to connect, 45 seconds to override their security protocols and then 30 seconds to slave them to our nav computer. Be ready to jump as soon as I give the word.

Mankhel was scowling, he clearly didn't like the idea of their beloved ship, the Mon Calamari light freighter Kraken, taking a beating for that long. But all he volunteered was ' I can get you close enough to reach out and kiss the cargo kid don't you worry 'bout that - you just make sure ya hustle.'

Six smiled to himself. He liked the taciturn Coruscant native. As a clone, Six hadn't been equipped to deal with social niceties and chit chat, but Khel seemed to labour under the same difficulties, and he hadn't been born and raised in a lab.

It was Kits turn to scowl, he hated being reminded of his youth and implied inexperience, especially as he wasn't actually the youngest. That dubious honour fell to Star, their Twi'lek engineer. She really was young, but something about her made the rest of the crew treat her with respect, while they all ribbed him constantly about being wet behind the ears, a street rat, and many other terms of 'endearment'.

Inez stepped in quickly to smooth things over. Six' second in command and frequent peacemaker, she excelled at the social skills Six baulked at. Theirs was a volatile but loyal and driven crew. They needed a firm hand and clear, unifying direction, which Six provided in abundance, but they also needed someone who could deal with the day to day dramas of a lot of...well, quite frankly, hotheads; who were generally either being confined in a close space for long periods, or being shot at, or both. Sometimes Inez felt like there wasn't much in between.

'Kit, honey, how long would it take to scan the freighter to make sure we get one hauling fuel?'

Circuit glanced at Six and Inez. 'I can probably sweep one in about a minute at long range without them picking up on it or us. But if they already have their jump laid in they won't be around long enough for me to complete the slaving process...it's pretty close as it is.'

'Too risky' announced Six decisively. The intel I was sent said fuel and parts, so they should all be carrying stuff we can sell. So, we jump straight in. As for selecting the best placed ship-'

'-we should pick the one that gives us the most cover from the guard ships, and that might mean getting in the middle of all the freighters so the gunners can't get a clear shot.' interrupted Xinn, Kehls co-pilot.

Six nodded, impressed. He had been trying to impress the importance of strategy, into all his people, and the newest addition to his crew was clearly taking it all on board. Xinn rightly looked pleased with herself. A compliment, even a nod, from Six was hard won, and it was an achievement in itself to get a word in edge ways sometimes with her rowdy new crewmates. They took some getting used to, but they were her kind of people. People who would do anything to destroy the Empire. The way the Empire ruthlessly destroyed her family back home on Tatooine.

'Ok', agreed Kit, catching Six' nod and feeling his way forward. 'Kehl will try and jump into the middle, get up close to one'.

'What do you mean _try_, boy?'

Kit wisely ignored the bait and for once steered clear of an argument. 'Kehl will micro-jump us into the middle, but by the time the link is made, the other ships will have had time to manoeuvre away to give the gunners line of sight so we will be taking some fire.'

Star cleared her throat and everyone paused for the shy Twilek girl to speak. 'If you can figure which side will be 'out' I can shift the best of our armour plating to that side. Give us a bit longer under the barrage if the shields fail.'

Xinn nodded, 'and I can angle the shields before we jump too, so I can bring them up the instant we emerge.'

'Ok' nodded Kit, mentally incorporating these final details. 'So Xinn you're on shields. Kehl, as soon as we are in position, make the final adjustments to the coordinates then be ready to jump when I say the word - and with this programme, the cargo ship will follow. Star be ready for emergency repairs in case we take a bad hit- by the way, how long do you need to move the shield plating around?'

'Only about three hours if Danel and Vailian can help me with the heavy lifting.' Two laid-back looking humans who were sat silently listening nodded curtly, just once.

'Great' announced Kit, without looking up for their consent - it went without saying: they might be rather mysterious, preferring to spend a lot of their time alone, but the tiny Twilek girl was the chink in their armour, and like the rest of the crew they would do anything for her. 'Well by my calculations we need to leave in the next three hours to be sure of getting there in time, so that's fine. Kehl, can you have us ready to go in 3 hours?'

The pilot nodded, not to be out-taciturned by the two soldiers.

Six stood up, it was time to wrap things up. 'Sounds like a plan. Good job Kit, Danel, Vailian, you two can fight it out over the top and bottom gun turrets. Let's get going people. Inez, I want you on scanners during the mission, keep everyone posted on what's happening around us. I'll make the tea and wipe everyone's fevered brow I guess.'

That was Six' way of breaking up the meeting. Everyone drifted away to get on with their prep work. Inez sighed, she could see Kit mentally kicking himself. To miss just one piece of the jigsaw, and to forget to assign tasks to everyone would be very frustrating for him when he so wanted to earn the crews respect and stop the constant ribbings. 'Good job Kit, well done' she said as he went past, making sure she was loud enough for everyone to hear. The rest of the crew took the hint and slapped him on the back and congratulated him each in their own way. He looked somewhat mollified, but she knew it was Six' praise that he really wanted. Just like the rest of them.

Six. He was an enigma to the crew, but not so much to her. He thought he was less of a person because he was 'only' a clone, but he couldn't be more wrong. He had a heart the size of an ocean - he had rescued all these waifs and strays and turned them into a force for good. They were doing their bit to win against the Empire, and they were making a difference. He was a hero if he could only see that. Still, when it came to missions on board the ship he had no useful skills and she wished he _would_ stick to making the tea. But he wouldn't, he would be in the thick of things shouting unneeded advice and instruction. Everyone would take comfort from his presence and ignore him, and maybe shout for tea - that would never come.

His place was on the ground, that's where he excelled. And with Danel and Vailian at his side he could pull off missions that just sometimes gave him a thrill close to that of running with the Jedi in the old Republic days. He missed those days deeply, but the guys had given him back the only joy left in his life. Inez didn't pretend to understand those two, but she would forever be grateful to them. The cause had given Six something to hang on to in the darkness, a purpose; but Dan and Vail gave him a contentment, a little joy in the endless hardship of their lives.

Speaking of which she had better run a full scanner diagnostic before they jumped. They couldn't afford for anything to go wrong. This was a big mission for them as a crew. Six had a contact who gave them all their assignments, someone imaginatively known as: Contact. This time he or she had given them something out of the ordinary. Usually they would be sent to some downtrodden planet for a search and recruit task: finding small local pockets of resistance and establishing their intentions. If those intentions were to rid the planet of the imps for good, they would help them to set up as a Resistance Cell with a Contact of their own. It was a highly dangerous task, a race to find the group before the imps did. But this mission - this was danger of a different kind.

She programmed the diagnostic almost on autopilot as she reflected on the task in front of them. Contact had given them intel on an Imperial pipeline of ships taking supplies to a small outpost rumoured to be designing radical new one-man fighter ships. The base was top secret and its convoys said to be small so as not to attract attention - but its cargo would be highly valuable - things their little cell could use - fuel and high tech ship parts such as shields and weapons. If they could capture just one ship it could boost their attack, defence and infiltration capabilities exponentially while also giving them cargo to sell and generate some credits.

Inez had the feeling the generating credits was the main point of the mission, even more than damaging the imp fleet in some way. The last mission they had been asked to do, they had had to refuse. Six never liked to do that, but he had to feed his crew and fuel the ship, pay docking fees and in short pay for all the little things you needed just to survive. So sometimes they had to work to earn funds. They carried out their covert work under the fake ID Shadow Dancer, but their legit work was carried out as the cargo hauler Kraken. This mission was obviously Contact providing a way to get some funds, so they didn't have to haul cargo for a while. They would be at his or her beck and call – and that was fair enough - it was what they were all here for. The fledgling resistance was losing too many potential allies to the Empire.

But she knew Six would have more immediate concerns: whereas they usually operated stealthily, under the Imperial radar, this was a very visible task. Once this task was done they would need to pay for new transponder codes and they would be Shadow Dancer no more. That meant more expense. This mission had better be lucrative. They had spent every credit they owned on the Slave tech, so if the whole thing back-fired they wouldn't be available to go out recruiting for a very long time….

With a ping Inez realised her dignostic was done, all scanners passive and active were fully operational. She glanced around the cockpit. Kehl had just finished up with the astrogation and was heading out to help Star. Xinn was staring thoughtfully at the shield controls. She gave it a thump - always the first option on this ship, even before turn it off and turn it on again - and frowned.

'You want me to get Kit?' offered Inez. Xinn began to nod and then shook her head vigorously. ' I don't want to speak to soon, but I think it might be working...'

Inez nodded and left the slender co-pilot to her task. She wanted to go out and help Star as well, or at least Vailian. Vail never seemed to notice her no matter what she did. But she noticed him. A lot.

Many hands make light work, and well within the three hour limit, the crew of the Kraken were ready. Kehl took the ship up through the atmosphere of Homestead, the isolated, low tech little planet they regularly hid out on. Once they achieved orbit, Xinn made her final adjustments to the astronav computer and the dots of lights in front of them blurred into the beauty of hyperspace.

Kits plan involved them hanging out on the edge of the system and waiting for the convoy to emerge from hyperspace. The combination of taking cover in the edges of the local asteroid field and going to low-power would render them invisible to the imp convoy when it arrived.

As with all the best laid plans, it seemed to start just great. They emerged in the outer reaches of the system and nestled up against a large rock on the edge of the asteroid belt. Inez focused their scanners towards the wider area above the lifeless rock at the centre of the system while Kehl powered down. Then they settled in to wait. The convoy was due to arrive in about thirty minutes.

Kehl and Xinn sat patiently in their bucket seats up front, Kehl ready to micro jump and Xinn ready to bring up the shields when he did. Inez sat to the rear of the cockpit checking the scanner status. Dan and Vail were in their gun turrets, no doubt dozing, stress-free as usual. There was no sign of Star, she would be scurrying around in engineering somewhere, doing her thing. Only Six and Kit seemed wired and restless, perched in the uncomfortable chairs added by Kehl not long after joining Six and Inez on the Kraken. No one was under any illusion that his main reason to do so wasn't to keep other crew members from breathing down his neck when he was trying to concentrate. They made the cockpit pretty cramped, but no one had room to pace any more- which was something that Six was particularly prone to and Kehl particularly hated.

' I sure could use some te-' but Inez words were cut short as to everyone's' astonishment, the imp convoy of six freighters and six gun ships jumped in - twenty nine minutes early. To their even greater astonishment, micro seconds later twelve gun ships flashed into being, their distinctive markings making them instantly recognisable as members of Crimson Dawn, the notorious band of smugglers, gun runners and general criminals. They surrounded the little convoy in a flash and immediately opened fire on the Imperial gun ships.

**Firestorm**

The twelve Crimson Dawn Ships hung in space, unleashing a hail of fire on the imp convoy.

'Noooo' wailed Kit showing all the youth and inexperience he had been trying so hard to cover up. 'What's happening? What do we do?'

The rest of the crew looked pointedly at the firestorm on screen. The imps were almost invisible through the barrage of ordinance battering their shields. One ship was listing to one side and then exploded spectacularly, further reducing visibility. Nothing the beleaguered imps managed to return seemed to have any affect on the Crimson Dawn ships, who closed on them relentlessly. This was clearly not the time for the Kraken to wade in.

Six was furious. 'Son of a bantha! How in the swamp of Dathomir did Crimson Dawn find out about this?' Despite the cramped quarters, he was on his feet. 'Kit, there's nothing we can do! Nothing at all – we cant afford to make enemies of _them_.' Now the imps know their secret base is not so secret, its over, we are _done_ here. ... How did they know?' His question lingered in the air, but there were no answers to be had. Everyone was processing the ramifications: they had no credits and now, they had no cargo to appropriate.

The team watched the battle on screen in silence, even Star and the brothers crept in to watch. It didn't take long for the pirates to overcome the smaller imp convoy. They just kept up their relentless barrage until the guard ships were dead in the water. Krakens scanners picked up multiple life boats being deployed and those few that weren't picked off by the attack ships quickly zipped into hyperspace and safety. None came their way, trying to make the relative safety of the asteroid belt, and the Shadow Dancer remained unseen.

Within seconds the pirates also winked out of existence leaving a hole where the six cargo boats had been and just the shells of five of the six attack ships floating brokenly through space, their companion completely obliterated.

'Dammit' shouted Kit, who had had the presence of mind to time the whole episode. 'They were using a slave programme just like mine - but we would have been faster.'

'Yes but they were slaving six ships and we were slaving one' pointed out Xinn rather dampeningly. Kit looked furious and opened his month to retaliate, but a quelling look from Six shut him up abruptly. Who was fastest wasn't a concern right now.

With all the precious cargo boats gone and the remaining ships dead in space, Six felt there was nothing to be gained from hanging around. 'Prepare to jump. Set a course for Corellia, see if we can pick up a cargo to haul. It won't be long before the imps get here to find out where their convoy went, and we want to be long gone'

In silence Kehl and Xinn started the calculations.

'Wait' shouted Kit suddenly. He had been fiddling with his data pad since the pirates had jumped. 'One of the guard ships isn't like the others...'

'And?' demanded Six mid-stride as he headed out of the cockpit, presumably to go to his berth and find something to kick.

'It's a very well-armed personal cruiser, The Vortex'. The life pods are all gone but the ship is top of the range, we may be able to strip it for weapons, ordinance, whatever.'

Six - and the rest of the crew - perked up immediately. 'What are we waiting for? Kehl, lay in a course'

Kehl was already on it, but he kept the approach cautious, ready to micro-jump at any sudden movements.

Inez started an active scan - after all there was no one left to pick up their signal, and if there was - well she needed to know. She frowned a little over the readings. ' Hmmm, what a shame to abandon such a nice ship – hang on - the engine's breached and it won't be too long before she blows. Star, have a look at the readings, I'm sending them to your datapad now - how long would you give the engine before it reaches critical?'

The Twilek engineer peered at the screen and tapped a few icons. 'Thirty minutes tops boss'.

Six didn't hesitate; the risk of the ship blowing was high in the extreme, the risk of the imps arriving before they made their escape was equally likely - but they really _really_ needed to come away from this with some credits. He didn't see that he had any choice if they wanted to carry on with the mission.

'Lets do this people.'

**Shadows**

Lieutenant Mattesta beckoned Admiral Lockee over. 'Shadow has made contact'. He opened a channel and a distorted, genderless voice echoed across the control room.

'Embarking on deep space mission to acquire supplies from an imperial convoy. May need extraction if mission failure results in capture. If we make it out alive will report in two days.'

The Admiral looked thoughtful. 'Been off radar for three weeks and now this? Information, but hardly enlightening. Their previous missions have been planetside, this is new. Is this the mistake that finally leads us to Contact? Alert me as soon as Shadow reports in again – or if we haven't heard anything in two days... No...wait... '

The Lieutenant waited impatiently but without fidgeting; he was well trained, and he had been so lucky to get this assignment ahead of hundreds of others. The Admiral was a stickler for discipline, so he volunteered nothing, letting Lockee think in silence.

The Admirals expression was one of cunning, which was why Mattesta hated him and was fascinated by him in equal measure. He trusted Lockee about as far as he could throw him. And as he was a rather portly man...

'Shadow always likes to be one step ahead of me, delivering the bare minimum of information to meet the terms of our little agreement. I think we should try and get one step ahead for a change… I want the team analysing every attack on the fleet in deep space from now for the next 48 hours. Anyone who finds the Shadow Dancer and what they have been up to, earns immediate promotion for you and them.'

Mattesta nodded once and exited the room quickly, fired up to go and motivate his team. He knew this job could be a fast track to a command of his own, and now it seemed his career could take off even quicker than he had dared to dream. They just needed to find that ship. Not easy in the vastness of space, but not impossible either. They knew that the Shadow Dancer was coming to them, they just needed to use that knowledge to their advantage. After all, he could be wily too.

Which was of course why Lockee hated _him_ and wanted him on his team in equal measure...

Next Chapter - The crew find a lot more than they bargained for on the not-so-deserted Vortex...

Thank you so sincerely to everyone who has followed and favourite-ed and reviewed, I really and truly appreciate you taking the time to read this and let me know what you think, and also for taking the time to put your faith in these new characters and read on past chapter 1!


	2. Chapter 2

**Vortex**

The Vortex sure was a beautiful ship. As the bulky, practical Kraken closed in on her, the elegant lines and sleek design of the failing vessel became clearer.

The crew might be drooling, but Six had no time for aesthetic appreciation. He barked out his orders, a little sharply. 'Vail and Dan - check out the cargo hold and move over everything to the Kraken that you can. Then find where the ordinance is and acquire it - take two of our repulsor-loaders with you. Star and Kehl get suited up, I want as many of those weapons detaching and bringing on board as you have time to get. Use the droids to help you, set one or two on stripping armour. Xinn get to the weapons store with a repulsor-loader and bring everything, including personal armour, ammo and any tech you can get your hands on. I'll get the fuel cells, Kit get to the bridge. I want downloads on where they've been, where they're going, and the invent. Cross check with the boarding teams so we know we haven't missed anything, there could be more than one weapons store on a ship like this. Inez - you stay on board, scan for the imps showing up and be prepared for emergency evac. Keep a scan on us so you know where we are. Keep scanning the engine. 15 minutes before she blows give the evac signal.' He paused for breath and looked his people in the eye by turn. 'This is critical for us, we have to get as much as we can, we _have_ to make money from this trip. Get what you can and don't stop, keep going until you hear Inez signal and then you drop everything, and I mean everything, and you get your asses back on this ship. Understood?'

Everyone nodded seriously, but inside they were excited to be let loose on a luxury ship. Still, they knew this was important. They had been thrown a life line and they had to make the most of it.

Only Inez looked disgruntled but she and Six had an agreement - if one left the ship the other stayed. One of them had to survive to carry on the mission. They should never both head into the same danger. At times like this though, she wished they didn't have to be so dam sensible.

'Guys, take carry bags with you - you never know what you might find worth taking on a ship like this' she yelled as they trooped out. 'And someone bring me back something nice!'

The moment they docked with the cargo bay, the team launched themselves into action.

Kit almost ran to the cockpit of the cruiser. He was so relieved to be able to salvage something from this disastrous mission. He couldn't help but take a few moments to stare around him at the luxury surroundings, plush carpets, state of the art control screens; even the chairs were high tech and seemed to be covered in velvet. He pushed comparisons with the Krakens battered, functional cockpit design away and concentrated on starting a download of the ships files, as that would take the longest. Then he started a scan to look for unexpected power sources on board that might indicate tech worth investigating. The ship controls were incredibly easy to use, he guessed that she had been designed so that even rich idiots could fly her without too much difficulty.

His first task was to power down any non-essential systems. The less power consumed, the less strain on the failing engines, the longer the integrity of the ship should hold and the longer it should take before the ship exploded. He switched off life support, knowing the air would be fine for longer than they needed, and all non-essential routines from diagnostics to charging the ships droids as well as releasing the door locks so the crew could move around unhindered.

His next task was to disconnect the astrogation unit, the imps would have the most up to date star charts available, and they had the resources to find the fastest routes, so this was bound to contain valuable data they could use on Kraken.

Once he had the unit in his carry bag, alongside a very nice blaster he had found in a compartment in the captain's chair and a swanky chronometer he had found on the floor, he pulled up the ships scan. It was done and he started checking in with each team to let them know his findings - another two ordinance stores for Dan and Vail, plus another weapons store for Xinn. It was then that he noted two faint life signatures had been picked up - he homed in and found to his astonishment that there was a survivor abandoned in the cells. A humanoid, close to death judging from the strength of the signal. He scanned for the second, but it had vanished, still it was no surprise the scanners were malfunctioning after the beating the ship had taken.

He opened his comlink 'Six I've found a life sign, a prisoner, in the brig. Red level.

'On it' responded Six. He had already repulsored the ships fuel back to the Shadow Dancers cargo hold. It was a pretty disappointing haul, but then why would the ship carry much spare fuel when it was running with a container ship full of the stuff? Currently he was checking out the private quarters and filling his carry bag with all manner of - what he hoped was valuable bric-a-brac, jewellery and portable equipment.

Six ran into the brothers as he was searching for a way to red level and gratefully dumped his bulging bag on Vail and Dan's repulsorloader as they manoeuvred a large haul of ordinance back to the hold. He allowed himself a small sigh of relief, there had to be something to sell in there.

But back to the task at hand. He located a turbolift down to red level, and set off in what he hoped was the direction of the brig in his measured run. He unholstered his blaster - he didn't want to leave any enemy of the Empire here to die - an enemy of your enemy is your friend and all that, but common sense said there was some sort of criminal in there and he or she may not be as grateful for rescue as one might expect, so better to exercise a little caution.

The power to the cell doors were down, and the hermetic seals broken. There looked to be only five cells and Six worked through them quickly to find the occupied cell. The fourth door was pushed open and empty. He was too late, the prisoner must have escaped and be loose on the ship. He was about to alert the rest of the crew for a possible problem, and order Kit to run another scan, but instinct made him check the fifth anyway.

To his astonishment, he found it occupied. A broken girl sprawled in the corner, injured, malnourished and apparently unconscious. Six couldn't imagine what a teenager could have done to warrant passage on a ship that clearly belonged to a high ranking Imperial. He approached cautiously but she didn't stir. At that moment, the alarm sounded from Inez. Either 15 minutes til the ship blew or the imps were here to investigate. He remembered his own instruction, drop everything and run.

He had no time for caution, he shoved his blaster back in its holster, scooped up the girl and nearly threw her into the wall she was so unexpectedly light. He adjusted for her lack of weight, turned and ran, the occupant of the fourth cell forgotten.

'Inez, talk to me' he yelled as he ran.

'Vail and Dan are just getting the last of their loads up the ramp into the hold, Xinn is on her way back, she had to leave her repulsorloader though, oh no, wait, Kit is going to help her with it. Star is getting the last of the droids on board now, Kehl is here getting ready to jump, they got all the major weapons and quite a bit of shielding. Where are you?

'I have the prisoner and I'm heading for the repulsorlifts' he responded just as a small explosion rocked the ship and threw him to the floor. He went sprawling, the girl crashing into the wall.

He was getting to old for this he thought, as he scooped her back up and noticed the blood in her hair - new or old it was hard to say.

'Dammit Six, get back here - the powers failing, you are going to need to climb. We only have 2 or 3 minutes, things are ramping up fast. I'll send Dan to help you'

'No!' he yelled, staggering toward the lift 'prepare to evac, if you have to leave me just do it, you can't put everyone else at risk for me'. The only answer he got was the click of her switching off her comms unit.

He knew what that meant - she was so stubborn. She wasn't going to leave him so he was going to have to get moving. Not that he wanted to die here, but he didn't want to endanger his ship and crew either.

He sprinted back to the turbolift and put the girl down as gently as time allowed. It was no trouble to force the doors open, climbing was going to be the issue with the unconscious prisoner to carry at the same time, but he stuck his head in the shaft to check it out. To his relief he could see Dan looking down at him from above.

'Throwing a rope down' Dan's word were followed by a length of rope nearly hitting him on the head, he grabbed it and tied it round the girls chest swiftly. Her comfort wasn't really a consideration right now.

He pulled the rope and felt resistance on the end, so he swung the girl into the shaft, and yelled for Dan to pull. The girl rocketed upwards, and Six guessed that Vail was up there hauling rope as well as Dan. He didn't hang around to surmise, though, he was already manoeuvring himself into the shaft and reaching across to grab the ladder. The shaft started to tilt at a crazy angle, and he knew the gravity was going to fail. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, sure he could float up the shaft, but it would make sprinting to the ship impossible once he got there. He started the climb, concentrating only on moving his legs and arms, three rungs at a time, as fast as he could.

'Two minutes and counting' yelled Inez, now the argument was over she had turned her comlink back on.

Six drove himself on, though his leg and arm muscles were burning from the speed of his climb. He could see Vail above him ready to grab him and help him over the edge. It just seemed so far away, he wasn't getting any younger, but he trained hard. He could do this. He had to do this. Too much was at stake.

The gap was closing but was it fast enough? He could have cried with relief as he reached the top and Vail heaved him over.

Vail dragged him to his feet, he had to force his legs to move, the relentless fast climb had sapped the energy from them. The gravity was hanging on somehow, he almost wished it would fail, his legs felt so heavy.

Inez shouted: ' one minute, get moving guys, c'mon'

Six supressed an urge to ask her exactly what she thought they were doing, but saved his breath for running as fast as his tired legs could carry him. There was no sign of the girl and Dan, so the two men got their heads down and focused, Vail's sprint driving Six to double his efforts to run faster. When the Kraken came into view, Six dug deep and the pair raced up the ramp hitting the close and seal button. 'Go Inez, go' he rasped before collapsing on the floor half laughing in relief, half fighting for breath.

The ship rocketed away from the dying cruiser, but not fast enough. They were still caught in the blast as The Vortex exploded spectacularly in the silence of space.

Six and Vail were thrown across the floor, but in the time it took to uncrumple themselves, no alarms had been triggered and the next second they felt the lurch of the Kraken launching itself into hyperspace.

They were safe - for now. Six just hoped the blast damage wasn't going to be expensive. Sometimes he felt more like an accountant than a soldier.

Six and Vail sprawled on the floor for several minutes more, their lungs taking in the oxygen they needed, the burning in their muscles slowly subsiding.

'Whoo, that was close'

Vail nodded and grinned, and they both burst out laughing.

Inez who had come down to see how they were could cheerfully had punched them both - she could see that they thought their narrow escape from an exploding ship was an exciting escapade. A great story to embellish and tell in the next seedy bar they patronised. Now they were safe they didn't care at all that they - and consequently the rest of the crew - had been three seconds away from death. All in a day's work. They worried her sometimes - too reckless, too little to lose. She gritted her teeth and silently backed away. She had a patient waiting in her little med bay according to Dan's frantic message. She had just needed to know Six was ok. And Vail. Typically, they were fine. And currently slapping each other's backs in high spirits. Grr.

Kehl had laid in a course directly away from their base. He would jump to the outer edges of a system with lots of traffic but little interest in tracking wayward visitors. There were plenty of busy planets that were known for not recording the comings and goings in its space lanes - due to most of its patrons being bounty hunters, smugglers and worse. Any planet with a steady income from crime would quickly be reduced to an abandoned back water if it started providing information to the Empire. If it didn't – officially atleast - record anything, it couldn't later be forced to give up those recordings to any authorities.

So the Shadowdancer could safely get lost in the traffic joining the busy space route and when it emerged somewhere far away, it would be as the Kraken.

If the Empire turned up at that planet, hot on their tail, there was no way they could be tracked. To be fair, it seemed unlikely the Empire would ever spot they had been anywhere near their convoy, traces of the Crimson Dawn were everywhere. Kraken jumped out in the middle of an explosion so that should have wiped out any trace they had left. But just in case the Empire struck lucky, it was always wise to take precautions.

While Kehl and Xinn got them home, Kit started to sift through the data he had downloaded. Six, Dan and Vail, once the rush of adrenalin had passed, made food for everyone, consumed most of it themselves and then started to sift through the carry-bags people had brought on board. It was no good trying to explore the cargo carriers, the hold was reassuringly crammed, and there just wasn't the space to investigate.

There was a good haul, fancy blasters with great sights and a lot of power, fancier chronometers studded with precious stones even two pairs of night vision goggles. Personal comlinks, jewellery, cloaks and coats. Clearly a man of refinement, the Admiral who owned the fallen Vortex - but also rather small - the coats fit none of them. Dan said that he would save them for Kit, he was much smaller than the three soldiers, or Kehl.

They all took a turn trying on the fancy cloaks, falling about laughing at each other swaggering about. However, no one on board would seriously wear a cloak - they went on the sell pile. Until Star crept in, covered in hydrofluid from her repairs, grabbed the fur lined number and waltzed out looking very pleased with herself. It was going to make a very luxurious blanket for her bed.

Six decided it was time to get to work, and left the guys still inventorying the contents of the bags, pocketing a simple but finely wrought ring as he went. Inez and Kit had gone very quiet, and even more importantly Star hadn't said how Kraken was holding up. He went to find her first, judging the integrity of the hull was more of a priority than anything else. While she wouldn't be looking at cloaks if the hull was about to rupture, he tried to take his responsibilities as Commander seriously. Most of the time.

As he had correctly guessed, she was arranging the cloak on her makeshift little bed, hidden in the back of the engine room.

'Report'. Star gave him a brief overview, internally she had fixed a few circuits in the shielding, overloaded from the blast and there wasn't much more she could do right now. She would need to retune the hyperdrive after their emergency jump and she would need to inspect the hull armour, but she could do neither of those things til they landed at their hideout. From her diagnostics she judged the ship would make it that far providing there were no more emergencies or additional strains on her systems.

Six nodded, relieved and left the little Twilek to her home-making. Next stop was Kit, he was curious to hear about the ship they had boarded. And he needed to know who the prisoner was, though she hadn't looked too dangerous to him. But better to take precautions, always better.

Kit was soon tracked to the cockpit, absorbed in his work. He had downloaded the files, and easily managed to decrypt most of them. He was currently working on decrypting the location of the secret imp base which was a much tougher nut to crack, protected as it was by the very highest levels of imp security. Still, Kit was confident that it was only a matter of time before he had the coordinates, after all – he had done it all before. The location would be great information for Contact, a feather in Kits cap, and even better, might have distracted Six from his other findings. If only. He took a breath, put his data pad on the console and braced himself as he heard the firm step of his commanding officer.

'Report'.

Where to start? Kit had had a read through of the data and he was nervous. He had wanted to run it past Inez, she always knew what Six was thinking, and it would have been so much better coming from her. But there had been no sign of Inez since they'd jumped. So he just had to get on with it. He squared his slim shoulders and spoke slowly through an explanation of who the ship belonged to while he frantically tried to think of a way to explain about the prisoner. But he couldn't find the right words. Suddenly inspired, he transferred his current programme to the console and once he had finished his explanation about the imp Admiral on board, and how he hadn't been seen in over a year prior to this, he passed his data pad to Six. Then he fastened his eyes on his decryption programme. He didn't want to be caught watching the old clone's expression.

He knew how Six felt about the Empires treatment of the Jedi...

Six took the datapad amiably enough, but he was alert to Kits reticent behaviour. There was clearly something about the Vortex he needed to know. He retired to one of the wellworn soft chairs in the little antechamber that separated the cockpit from the rest of the ship. The crew referred it to the R&R because after their beds it was the only comfortable place to rest and relax on the whole ship. The commander quickly forgot Kit as he absorbed the unbelievable contents of the data file.

The prisoners name was Rune. Background details were sketchy. She had trained in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and had been chosen by a Jedi Master to become his Padawan at the tender age of 10. Six surmised this was only just before Order 66 was given. She hadn't been in the temple with the other children when Anakin had slaughtered them and neither had she or her master been back at the front line of the fighting to be slaughtered with the other Jedi when the Order went out.

The pair must have gone on the run, but Rune and her Master had been captured within a year by an Inquisitor and the Master had been killed. She had been kept, she was to be turned and made to serve the Empire.

But they hadn't been able to turn her. Not one of the Emperors minions had managed it though they tortured and abused her, passing her from Inquisitor to Inquisitor, each trying to be the one to finally make her their apprentice. Six scanned through what seemed like books of notes from each Inquisitor's failed attempts to turn her. He had only read a few pages of the methodical experiments and felt so sick he had to stop.

The last Inquisitor in the log believed her to be descending into some kind of vegetative state brought on by prolonged stress and felt she was now beyond turning. Her lack of response to outside stimuli seemed irreparable.

Six wondered if it was true, or the notes of someone who didn't want to be seen as the last in a long list of failures. Still, the main thing was that she was out of the Empires clutches. Now she could heal, and if she was mentally damaged in some way, maybe that could be healed too, in time.

Fortified he read on. Ironically, it was only after she had started to shut down that she had been summoned to the Emperors palace. She was to be transported immediately and given into Vader's keeping. It seemed The Vortex was already scheduled to jump to the research and development station, where Moff Tarkin was due to visit in two weeks to approve progress with the one-man fighter programme. Rune was added to the ships manifesto to be delivered to the rendezvous point. Tarkin would collect her and take her to Lord Vader and the Emperor along with his other cargo. Six wondered what would happen to her there, the subtext implied she would become Vader's apprentice or she would die.

Six was still for a long time after reading this. Eight years she has been a prisoner, resisting the dark side, and had been only two weeks away from Vader and most likely, death. After all, he reasoned, if she had resisted the Dark Side for that long, it seemed unlikely she was going to give in now. Even at the evil Vader's hand.

She must have given up all hope of rescue long long ago.

He wondered what kept her going, what she must have gone through, an innocent child - he couldn't bear to think of it. But one thought was pushing its way to the forefront of his mind. He had found a Jedi. Against all the odds. _A Jedi_.

Was this the salvation he had been searching for all these years. Was this his chance to make amends? Could he save her and restore the Jedi to the galaxy? She was trained in the ways of the force. There were children born every day all over the galaxy with the potential to become Jedi, if only there was someone to train them. Could this girl be the key? Could he, Six, finally be redeemed? His heart was thundering so hard at the possibilities he could feel his whole body trembling.

With a start, he threw the datapad down on the console and ran to the med bay. Kit stared after him, wondering what that reaction meant.

The Medbay was a grand name for what was essentially a cupboard fitted out with some very basic medical equipment. With Inez and her patient in, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. When Six burst in, he nearly knocked his second flying.

Six, with visions of the girls blood covered hair in front of his eyes, didn't even notice he had cannoned into her.

'How is she Inez?'

Inez face told him everything he needed to know: not good. He ordered the door closed and rolled up his sleeves prepared to give whatever field-medic level assistance he could.

Neither were seen by the rest of the crew for some time.

Kehl was glad to emerge from hyperspace back at their little hideaway. The planet looked barren and unwelcoming from space. Scans would reveal there were a few low-tech nomads roaming the more temperate of the three continents, but not the blasted plains the Kraken was currently plummeting towards.

Homestead was located in a barren, mountainous region that had been strip mined by one of the big galactic mining Corp for a few decades and then abandoned during the Clone Wars. The natives would never have known what was going on, so it had been sanctioned by the Trade Federation. Even though one day the nomads may have developed technology enough to mine for themselves, now there was nothing of value or use left.

As the Kraken reached a low altitude Kehl expertly levelled off his beloved ship and flew her along just above the ground. He loved the challenge and thrill of flying her in atmosphere, buffeted by winds that had gathered speed racing across the miles of open plains, or dodging sudden tors on mountain sides.

Below them, a little of nature was returning to the land, some scrubby grasses and bushes giving a light dusting of green to the endless brown and grey. Nature always found a way, and now that it had regained a foothold, Kehl suspected it wouldn't be long before the land would start to see some trees and wildlife return. Eventually there would be resources enough to support intelligent life again, and maybe the nomads would come, but that would be long after the crew of the Kraken had left it. And that was fine by them: they didn't want any uninvited guests, native or otherwise.

On the view screen the mountains were fast approaching. Six and Inez had found the perfect spot to set up their hideout, after months of searching low tech planets. Sheltered by mountains, they could bring the ship in under a huge natural overhang of solid rock that shielded them from scans from space as well as the worst of the environment. There was running water under this natural hangar, and plenty of room for storage of equipment they weren't using at any time. They could even have fit several more ships in if they had owned any.

As they approached, Kehl searched for the satellite dish they had set up permanently on a nicely camouflaging scree, way above the hangar. Even though he knew exactly where it was he could never see it. And that was good. The satellite was constantly monitoring for high tech entering their boundaries while they were present or away. Kehl had downloaded the records the moment they had dropped out of hyperspace. No tech had entered the system while they had been away. It was safe to return home.

Once they had landed under the mountain the crew members were keen to examine their haul from The Vortex in more detail. When Six and Inez didn't appear Kehl reluctantly took charge and after sending Star off to start in on her repairs, he divided the containers up so that each crew member knew exactly what to inventory. He expected protests and complaints as to how he had made the allocations, but no-ones heart was in their usual squabbles. Everyone was wondering what was going on in that cupboard that was taking so long.

As the crew input their findings into their datapads, Kehl was quickly able to build up a picture of what they had got away with. A disappointing amount of high quality fuel, new, stronger but light weight shield-plating, ships weapons, ship building materials, ordinance and ammo as well as the improved astrogation computer, personal armour, high damage blasters and personal items of value, gold bullion and precious stones from the grab bags. Then there was the heavy weaponry and shielding that Star had liberated from The Vortex. It was shaping up to be the best haul ever – if only there had been more fuel. Kehl knew SIx was not going to be happy about the fuel.

And somewhere the Commander and his Second were still with the girl. Even Kehl was feeling the restlessness of the crew. What was happening? And should someone go and look? And if the answer to that question was yes, did it have to be him?

'Right everyone, we can't do any more today. Let's get some dinner, celebrate our good fortune and get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow figuring out what to do with everything. Dan and Vail, you cook. Xinn, tidy away here, Kit download the invent data into the mainframe. I'll go and see how Star is and then er, go and see how Six is getting on. There were good sides and downsides to being in charge.

It didn't take long to track down Star, she was sat on the hull scrutinising a patch of blackened shielding, her head tails twitching in consternation. 'How's it looking Star?' Kehl was keen to keep Star talking as long as possible in the hope that Six or Inez would appear before he had to go and knock at the medbay door.

'Some repairs needed, but not too much damage, considering. I'll retune the hyperdrive first thing in the morning when I can clear everyone out the hangar bay. I've checked over the astrogation unit and it's ready for Kit to install – its so much better than the one we have, it will halve our journey times. The shields took the brunt of the damage, you got them angled in the nick of time. But the plating at the back still took some of the blast damage and I am going to have to replace a couple of patches. But that's ok, we got more than enough from the imp ship. The beauty of it is, it's not even standard imp shielding which is good enough, its top of the range independent shielding so I can use it as is, and no one will see its stolen from the imps unless they look at the manufacturing codes at the cellular level and check who bought it. Like that's gonna happen.'

Kehl shivered uneasily. He was a star ship captain: he didn't like to tempt fate. 'Great. You can start–'

'-Report'

To Kehl's great relief Six was stood at his elbow. He didn't have to go near the medbay after all. 'Star, wrap it up for now, the boys are making dinner. You can start on the shielding after retuning the hyperdrive in the morning. Once that's done, now the crates are listed and labelled you can go through the star ship parts and decide what to keep for upgrades and repairs and what to sell, OK? There are crates of shielding in there unlike anything I've ever seen – incredibly light weight, must be for the one-man fighters – you might wanna check it out.'

Star perked up at the thought of new technology and started to tidy things away and send her droids back to their docking stations as the two dour men walked back into the ship together.

Six was anxious to hear what had been going on in his absence, but he didn't interrupt Kehl as he painstakingly reported on everything that had happened since Six had disappeared into the medbay all those hours ago. As he spoke, Kehl took in his Commanders haggard appearance and wondered what was going on. But he didn't ask.

Six nodded, pleased even if his face didn't show it as his Captain finished his evaluation of the ship and their current status. 'Make sure Star gets all the help she needs to finish the repairs and upgrades. I want an assessment on when we can leave by end of shift tomorrow. Have Kit send the invent to my personal console. I need to report in, I'm overdue in fact' he added, consulting his chronometer. He gave Kehl a rough slap on the back, which would have sent a slighter man, such as Kit flying, and headed off.

Kehl nodded solemnly and watched Six walk wearily to his quarters, wondering not for the first time, who Contact really was and what his link to the Commander was. Six was the only crew member with his own quarters. The ship wasn't really designed for such a large crew, having its origin as a long-haul bulk freighter which only needed two personnel. Everyone else shared - Inez and Xinn, himself and Kit and the two brothers Vail and Dan. They had bunk beds and a couple of shelves each and that was it. Star in her little cubby hole in engineering had more space than the rest of them.

Kehl decided to do a sweep and see if Inez had appeared. She would be the one to ask for intel. Though he walked the length and breadth of the ship, there was no sign of her. Hmm, surely she couldn't still be in med bay? But the door was still shut. He carried on with his sweep, uneasy at this break from routine. What was going on?

Six was incredibly weary by the time he reached his berth. He knew Kehl had been desperate to ask what was going on, and he was amused that his Captain hadn't asked outright. Amused and relieved. He still hadn't decided what to tell his crew, or Contact. He set an alarm on his chronometer. He was exhausted, and he knew Inez was too, but they had agreed he would sleep first with Inez taking first watch. After his strenuous escapades on the imp ship, he could barely keep his eyes open and his muscles were stiffening up. The girl was stable, but without fancy monitoring equipment one of them needed to stay with her, she wasn't quite out of the woods yet. Her vital signs had been at critical and they had had to resuscitate her more than once in the last few hours. They had pumped their entire meagre stock of anti-infection drugs in to her. Removing the force collar without causing her further damage had taken hours and throughout, it had felt like she was fighting not to wake up. Six knew Inez was at her wits end trying to keep the girl alive. In fact he wasn't sure she wouldn't have given up and let the girl take her chances if Six hadn't insisted she keep going. There was no way he was going to let this girl die. She had to survive. She had to survive so that maybe he could too.

He blinked, pushing those nightmarish few hours to the back of his mind. Before he could sleep he had jobs to do. First he downloaded all files relating to the brig and the prisoner to his personal computer and then deleted the files from the mainframe for safety, but not before noticing that there had been two prisoners due for transport. He wondered what had happened to the second. There was no personal file on a second prisoner but Six remembered the open door of the fourth cell. Had the prisoner escaped on one of the life pods? There had been no one show up on the scans. Had he – or she - even been on the ship?

Next he needed to compose his report to encrypt and send to Contact. He was long overdue reporting in. With leaden fingers he started to type up an outline of what he wanted to say. Speeches weren't his strong point and he often got flustered when speaking formally. Inez has patiently taught him to sketch the outlines of what he wanted to say so that he could always refer to his notes to stop himself getting lost – or give away information he didn't intend to. He didn't have the luxury of that time now, he knew his friend would be frantic having not heard anything long past his agreed report in time. The salvage time plus his stint in medbay had put him way off schedule.

He was going to have to wing it. For someone who loved to fly by the seat of his pants in combat, he was ridiculously uncomfortable doing the same when just talking.

'Contact'

'Report' even though the voice was electronically distorted Six could pick up the urgent undertone, and he could picture the expression on the face of the person at the other side of the comm channel.

Hesitantly at first, he led with the question of how Contacts intel had become compromised, then gave an overview of Crimson Dawn swooping in and stealing all of their target ships. He even detailed how the dawn had picked off one ship first – that must have been the lead ship, so the intel that they had was clearly very detailed, and accurate – once that ship was gone the others were unable to jump away and had to abandon ship. He went on to explain that their scans that had revealed a potential source of other viable goods. He gave a quick and heavily abridged review of their haul of equipment, dropping in that he just hoped it was enough to at least cover their outlay on the slave programme and fuel. He saved the best news til last, Kits discovery of the location of the secret base, no data on the prototypes themselves, but news on the visit of Moff Tarkin, whose whereabouts were usually a closely guarded secret. This was a real feather in their cap.

The one thing he did not even hint at was the presence of the prisoner. He was not ready to report her yet. Even though he knew that Contact would be as thrilled and moved as he had been, if there was a leak, he couldn't afford to risk this getting out. His distant friend would understand. But oh, how he longed to share this world-shattering news.

A Jedi. He had never thought he would see another. A Jedi, and one who had known Master Yoda. He had a chance to redeem himself. And the fledgling resistance he was working so hard to bring about may have an actual Jedi about to join it ranks. If only she would regain consciousness he thought as he finally lay his head down and lost hold of his own.

For the first time in years, the nightmares did not come.

**Deckard**

Officer Deckard was beside herself with suppressed excitement, there was a mystery to solve, and there was nothing she liked better.

As the new girl in a team of male analysts, she was constantly shunned by her colleagues and given the worst of the assignments. Even nine months in and with an excellent work record under her belt, she was made to feel like an unwanted outsider. When the chance of a promotion came in, she knew full well that Tahndi, her supervisor had pre-checked the attack file before assigning it to her to make sure it wasn't the Shadow Dancer. In fact the whole team knew she was analysing an enemy engagement that had no chance of leading to her promotion over them.

But there was a reason why she had managed to get this job against all the odds. She was better than them - and she had been waiting patiently for a chance to prove it. Finally, her chance had come, she was sure of it.

As soon as she saw a visual of the attack on a top-secret convoy she could see it was clearly by the Crimson Dawn. As their task was to find the Shadow Dancer - known to be part of a fledgling terrorist group and nothing to do with any of the crime lords - there was no wonder none of the male officers wanted to work it.

But Deckard's strategy was to make herself useful to high ranking officers out on the front lines. By building a good reputation across a wide network of influential movers and shakers, she might one day be in a position to get a leg up when she needed one.

This was another one of those times when she might be able to make some useful connections, if nothing else. If she could find out anything of interest about that attack she could use it to go straight to the local Governor of the area. Being even a junior member of Lockee's elite security team meant she didn't have to bother with chains of command, she could go direct to anyone up to Governor level with information if she wanted. She had very quickly learnt to circumvent her own chain of command unless she wanted someone else to take the credit for her work. She was gradually building up a reputation as a very effective analyst, at least outside this base.

She meticulously downloaded the data streams for the black boxes from each of the ships and compared their readings with each other looking for anything out of the ordinary. It was a long shot, but she wasn't going to get anything else to do until this terrorist ship had been found and the promotion safely assigned to one of her smug colleagues. She was quite looking forward to having one less idiot to mock her and make her life as miserable as possible, she reflected as she waited for the data.

Once she had it all on her unit she painstakingly began the process of isolating the initial streams that she wanted and comparing the readings for the six ships. The ship that had blown early on didn't have much data to provide, but the other five had continued to record through the battle and the four that hadn't exploded had recorded up until the point they were retrieved by the salvage team.

She quickly built up a picture of the Crimson Dawn fleet and identified every ship. There was clear evidence here for a court case, not that the local authorities would bother to take anyone to court. If those ships were found they would be blown out of the sky. She carefully saved and filed the data ready to send.

Then she moved on to logging all the Imperial escape pods. Each pod would send out a signal to its black box of all known serving armed forces personnel within it. It meant that she could track each pod individually and report which ones were known to have been destroyed by fire from the CD fleet and who was in each, along with those that had jumped. The problem with pods were that they were less reliable than ships and sometimes they didn't reach their pre-programmed destination. She compared the list of pods registered as making their proscribed destination and sent the data to the salvage teams. They would inform families of those confirmed dead and send out search ships along the hyperspace lane to look for pods that didn't make it.

Then she examined the data to see if she could pinpoint why the first ship had blown. Yes they had been under attack, but sometimes an attack could trigger a failure because of a design flaw, it was always worth knowing these things because as she had inadvertently found out before - it could mean a bonus from Procurement or the manufacturer depending on how she wanted to play it. On this occasion though it was obvious that the ship was in the clear: during the barrage it had taken a direct hit to the fuel cells triggering an immediate explosion, no survivors.

Examining the box readings for the second ship to explode, the Vortex, was where she found her first anomaly.

Scanning through the log of events, for clues as to why the ship was abandoned when it was, she found the voice recordings announcing the abandon ship and the diagnostic showing the engine had taken a hit, engineering could not be contacted to contain the problem, and there was a hull breach. Scans showed no life in that section which the ship had automatically sealed off.

There were clear indicators that the engines were starting to overload and an explosion did seem the logical outcome. Still, she wanted to check. She turned to the engine and power out-put readings, which were recorded every five minutes along with those of many other systems, and started to work through them, analysing how they led to the explosion. To her puzzlement, several readings stood out. Whereas most remained stable, or gradually increased or decreased, a few showed a change of direction in their readings or even stopped, which was surely impossible. She dug deeper. Someone had been taking systems off line to reduce stress on the failing engine and extend the time lapse before the ship exploded. She double checked the pod report. Yes, every pod was ejected and all personnel accounted for - there was no one left to carry out these manual overrides.

Deckard felt a shiver of excitement wend its way up her spine, there was something else happening here, and she was going to find out what it was. She did a quick check that no one was nearby and let out a little whoop of glee. Then she sent a service droid off for coffee and settled in to examine every piece of available footage. There was a mystery to solve here. It was going to be a long night but she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Next chapter: the Jedi prisoner regains consciousness and Deckard digs deeper...


	3. Chapter 3

**Rune**

Rune had been retreating to the deepest recesses of her mind for so long that at first she didn't register the creeping return of her shattered senses. Didn't recognise soft fabric beneath her fingertips, hear whispers moving around her, and the faint aroma of sweat as two humans struggled to keep her tired heart pumping. She was floating, disconnected, in a haven of peace and shadows where no assault on her damaged body could reach her. And she had lost all desire to surface into the world she knew, that of endless cold and pain and the treacherous currents of the dark side. Yet glacially slowly she became aware far above her there was light instead of dark, warmth instead of cold, kind voices instead of harsh taunts, no new agonies, and a dimming of the pain that was her constant companion.

She was so used to being tricked and deceived though, she no longer trusted her own physical senses. And the Force, her most important sense of all was gone. Without the Force, what use was there in being? For the Force she had not felt in a long long time. That was the thing she missed the most, the Force that flowed through her and showed her how to be, how to heal, how to see. It was gone. More than anything else she missed the guidance it gave her, the feeling of completeness, a connection to the universe and to peace.

With a jolt she realised _that_ was the difference. That was the thing that had roused her. She could feel the Force at the edges of her mind…. It didn't flow inside and through her as she longed for. She couldn't reach out and touch it with her mind, commune with it and let it flow through her. It wasn't at one with her and she with it, she could not bend it gently to her will. But she could feel it on the edge of her consciousness, the eddies and currents brushing against her thoughts. For the first time in too many years it was _there_ and it was free and no one was trying to force her to seize it and twist it and subvert it to her will. So then ... the thought swum past her: if she could feel the Force again that could only mean that her force collar was removed or broken. And if no one was at this moment hurting her in any way ... could she dare to hope that her captors were gone? She quashed that thought immediately. Painful experience had taught her that no matter what, her captors had never gone. They might have thought up a new way to give her hope of rescue and then rip it away in their merciless and relentless efforts to turn her, but they had never really gone.

And yet. Something was different. She knew that she was being transported to Vader. To Anakin. And she knew he would kill her the same way he had killed all her friends back at the Temple all those endless years ago. But that would be a relief after all this time. And this didn't feel like death was waiting at her door. This felt like... light ... and hope. Had she finally lost her grip on reality, was this insanity? This peace and well-being and distance from everything around her?

She tried to focus on moving an arm to her throat to feel for her hated collar, but she couldn't move. It wasn't that she was still chained, but that she just didn't have the strength to even so much as lift a finger. She tried to focus on opening an eye instead. Surely that would be easier. It didn't seem to be. She slipped back into an uneasy half-sleep, her memories of Anakin haunting her capricious dreams. Memories of a time before her capture, memories... of a great Jedi Knight, one day to be a great Master surely.

All the stories from the battle fields of the Clone Wars were exciting, but somehow where he was involved they always seemed that much more exhilarating. Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi Wan were legendary. All her friends wanted to fight with them one day. Had wanted. But then something fundamental had changed. A different Anakin had come to the temple and killed every youngling he found.

She would have woken from her nightmares screaming as she had so many times since that fateful day, but she no longer had the voice to scream or the strength to awaken, and so she moaned and whimpered in her half-sleep, her thin cheeks tear stained and Six watching over her, felt every sound as a knife through his heart. He wasn't the only one haunted by the past and the present.

Rune must have sunk all the way into sleep eventually for the next time she returned to consciousness it was fast: someone was gently holding her wrist. She let out a little gasp of fear and her wrist was lowered and to her surprise someone held a container to her lips. She drank instinctively, and the shock of the cold clean water gave her the strength to open her eyes at last. She shrank back into the pillow. A pillow? Rune could barely remember what it felt like to have a pillow to lay your head on. The shock and wonder of it jolted her further out of her reverie.

Instead of her latest cell she was in a small clean bright white room. She squinted at a tiny but kind looking woman who was standing next to her, brow creased in concern.

'Where?' Rune tried to speak but no sound came out of her mouth. The woman seemed to understand her all the same.

'It's ok, we rescued you from an imp – er Imperial ship'. She seemed to feel this wasn't explanation enough ' There was a convoy, you were attacked by pirates, we er- happened upon the remaining ships, all abandoned. We scanned for life forms and found only you - all the life pods were gone, many were killed in explosions during the attack. They must have forgotten you, or not had time to rescue you.'

Rune considered the diminutive woman's words. Her enemies would never forget her, but she was being transported on a strange ship. None of the Inquisitors had been on board, or they would have passed the time on board tormenting her. If the Captain of the ship had been killed it was possible no one else realised what a valuable cargo they were carrying. It sounded like a trap, but it still didn't feel like one.

She nodded once, but she couldn't find the strength or impetus to speak. Her neck ached and felt strangely exposed. She remembered with a rush of hope: no collar?

'Anyway, I am Inez, second in command here, and you have been unconscious in my medical bay - if you can call it that - for four days. You are very weak, but you are going to be ok. Nothing broken right now, but still a lot of healing to do and you need to eat - you are very malnourished. You're lucky we found you - you were so close to death we nearly didn't pick up your signal.'

When Rune didn't respond, the woman retreated a little awkwardly and began to potter around the room, doing something quietly with some equipment. Rune shut her eyes. If she was supposed to start asking questions now, buying into the whole, I've been rescued scenario, she wasn't playing. She wanted to believe, and this felt so different, but she wasn't ready to relax her guard yet. And besides, what she really wanted to do was go back to sleep and not feel this painful knot of hope in her hollow stomach.

After a while, Inez picked up her thread. 'We found your records on the ship. We know your name is Rune - can I call you that?'

Rune, her consciousness starting to drift, registered her name with faint surprise. No one had called her that in a long time. Part of the Inquisitors technique to isolate her and break her down, started so long ago she sometimes barely remembered her name either. She managed one further inclination of her head when more of her memories flooded back: The Force – she had felt the Force again.

Hardly daring to hope, she closed her eyes and stilled her mind, ignoring the amiable chatter of the woman. Sure enough, at the very edges of her mind she felt the soft warm swell and ebb of the Force. She longed to feel it flow through her very being but though she called to it and reached out to it, it drew no closer. In frustration she forced herself to relax and focus on the waves lapping at the very edge of her mind. Not a connection but two beings' side by side. It was the best she could do, and even that was more than she ever thought she would feel again. She must be content with it, for now. And yet to have the Force so close and not be able to connect was more painful even than the total nothingness that had surrounded her since they had first bound that collar around her neck and severed her senses. To know that so much time had passed she no longer had a connection gave her a feeling of such emptiness she could hardly breathe with the desperation she felt inside. She felt a tear roll down her cheek unchecked. To be so close to Anakin and to have that opportunity ripped away from her was more than she could bear. He was the only one powerful enough to turn her or kill her and either way this pain would be done. Now she had to keep enduring, endlessly enduring until her body failed her. She wasn't quite sure what it was that kept her going any more. It was a mercy when she slipped into unconsciousness.

Inez, part way through another monologue, noticed her audience was no longer listening and stopped mid-flow. Sleep was the best medicine she had to offer.

Star scrolled through her datapad, a pleased expression on her pointed little face. The hyperdrive tuning diagnostic was showing excellent results and after three days of hard slog the weapons and armour were in place. She had only to pack all her tools and the debris of her work away, and they were good to go. When Six appeared at her elbow she wasn't surprised. He seemed anxious to leave, monitoring her work far more closely than usual.

'All done', she announced before Six could ask. 'Just packing away - give me a couple of hours.'

Six nodded pleased. 'Well hurry it up. Dan and Vail are cooking up a special dinner for tonight. Xinns vegetables grew, would you believe it?' Star whooped for joy and danced a little Twilek victory dance on the spot.

Xinn, a Tatooine street rat who had never cooked anything in her life, had once eaten real fresh home cooked vegetables. It had been her fantasy ever since to have more. The first time she saw Homestead; instead of seeing the sparse wasteland and rocky mountains everyone else saw, she saw earth and scrubby grass and possibility. She had found a little area of thriving weeds only two minutes away from their hangar, in the lee of a rocky outcrop low on the mountainside. She staked her claim and then spent all her spare time on their next mission reading up on horticulture and begging Six to buy some seeds. Six, not used to being nagged, had been willing to do whatever it took to get a quiet life and managed to negotiate for some seeds and a couple of fruit bushes on a back water planet they were hauling parts to. No one had ever seen ice-cool Xinn excited till she held those seed packets in her hand. Xinn had set the bushes up in the hold of the ship amongst the sacks of vegetables and tended them like they were her own babies. Six had even squeezed in a brief trip to Homestead so she could carry out her first planting. Since then they had gone straight to another planet side mission and this was their first return. The mission had been particularly long and difficult, draining most of their funds, but it had given the seeds time to yield their first crops of root vegetables and tubers. The hardy bushes had also adapted to their new harsher environs and survived. Though their first fruit had dropped while the crew were away, the bushes were already forming new blossoms.

Six headed back inside the ship with a smile, well satisfied with Stars reaction. She didn't even know the best part yet. He had sent the boys off with the speeder bikes that morning, to the nearest coastal region. There were pockets of wildlife there that had survived the mining, and if their hunt didn't yield a mammal to roast, there were plenty of fish in the sea.

They had commed him twenty minutes ago saying they had had a successful hunt and were an hour out. His mouth was watering already.

The brothers were the only crew members who actually knew how to hunt and how to cook having grown up on a planet that had a wealth of rich countryside and wild animals. Their childhood had involved months on end out in the wilderness with their father, hunting with all manner of weapons to get the furs that would pay for the three of them to winter in civilisation and buy some education for the boys. Cooking and eating their own kills had been a natural part of that lifestyle.

The moment they met, Six had recognised something in them that he identified with. He had wasted no time in recruiting them to his cause, and they, who had lost their beloved father to the ravages of the Empire, wasted no time in signing up. And Six had never regretted acting on instincts he hadn't known he had, they had quickly proven themselves adaptable, self-sufficient and out-standing hunters, on one mission after another.

But before dinner was cooked and served Six needed to decide on their next move. He yelled Inez as he walked from engineering to the cockpit, confident that wherever she was on board she would hear him. Sure enough she emerged from med bay a moment later, scowling at him and muttering that her patient was still asleep and needed to rest _peacefully_.

'It's about Rune, we need to decide our next steps' he announced as he ushered his tiny second through his door.

'Yes, good question, what _do_ we do next? We can't take her anywhere without id but we need to sell our haul and get ready for our next mission – which I am sure won't be long now' if there was a hint of dryness in her tone Six didn't seem to pick up on it.

Instead he laughed sourly. 'Selling contraband and buying fake ID? Gotta be Tatooine. Best fake ID in the galaxy. Not to mention, so many wanted criminals pass through there, even if our chosen forger was raided it would be years before the imps had time to figure out who a young girl with no previous convictions really was.

Inez gave her agreement reluctantly and Six suppressed a triumphant smile. That had been a lot easier than he expected. He knew Inez hated Tatooine, especially after their last misadventure there. Why Contact had ever thought they might establish a cell on a planet so universally corrupt he had no idea, but at least one good thing had come out of that near disaster - rescuing Xinn. She was doing well and proving to be an asset to the team. Even Inez would have to admit that with Xinn to guide them to the right merchant, the planet perfectly fit their needs on this occasion. The fake ID from Tatooine was top quality and none of the native traders would blink an eye at buying items of dubious origin, even if they suspected they were imp items. It occurred to Six that the native traders would probably be _more_ suspicious if they thought the items on offer were legit.

'OK, so I will let the crew know where our next destination is at dinner tonight. We won't get a task from Contact yet – I told him we needed some time for repairs, bought us a few extra days for this trip.'

'So, you haven't told him about Rune?' getting straight to the root of the matter as she usually did.

Six sighed, he very much wanted to get Inez opinion on this but hadn't really liked to bring up such a sensitive topic. 'No…..we have to wonder how the Crimson Dawn knew to turn up at that raid – and their intel was better than ours. How ever Contact found out about the convoy, his source of information is suspect, which means he could be under observation. I daren't give him any data right now that indicates we have Rune. If it got into the wrong hands….'

'We would all be dead'

'Quite. I really want to tell Contact, he might be able to help. But I just can't risk it right now…he would understand.'

'Yes, I think he would understand' agreed Inez sensing that Six was looking for reassurance more than anything. 'It would put him in even greater danger than he already is. You did the right thing.'

Six nodded, pleased that Inez has agreed with him. He respected her opinion greatly; her shrewdness had got them out of more than a few scrapes. 'Speaking of which, how is the patient?'

Inez shrugged non-committaly. 'Still stable, still not spoken. Lucid for longer periods though, I think. I should go and check on her' she added, correctly concluding that Six was already thinking of where he should be next.

Six nodded his thanks and dismissal, and before she was even out his door she could tell he had forgotten her, his mind moving on to the next knotty problem. She signed internally. She hated Tatooine, and really didn't want to go back. But it did make the best fake Id, and it was too remote and dusty to attract the imps in any great numbers. She was just going to have to endure it.

From the cockpit drifted the familiar strains of Kehl and Xinn having a heated argument about the right way to do something or other. Inez braced herself and headed off to throw a bucket of icy water over them – strike that, try and break them up with calm rational and grown up reasoning. Unlikely. And the ice water would be so much more satisfying….

Six had set Kit on with the unenviable task of investigating each individual piece of jewellery that had been taken from the Vortex. He knew Kit hadn't been thrilled at the idea, but he hadn't complained. Six almost wished he would, but he could see Kit was still blaming himself for the failure of the mission – even though it wasn't his fault those pirates had turned up. Rather than commlink him, he decided to go and see how the kid was getting on. Maybe give him a word or two of encouragement. That was something Inez was always reminding him to do.

Six found Kit within a minute, he was sat in the little antechamber that led into the cockpit, his gaze alternating between the jewellery, his data pad and the fight in the cockpit which Inez was now in the middle of, trying to pour oil on troubled waters from her short position. He was grinning openly as she climbed onto a chair and yelled for them to shut up. The pair did so sheepishly.

Six, trying not to grin himself, spoke into the sudden void of silence. 'How's the search going?'

Kit jumped and his eyes flicked immediately back to his screen as he flushed guiltily. If there was anything that could make the jewellery traceable back to the Vortex, this whole trip was a bust. They wouldn't be able to sell it which meant they wouldn't have the credits for fake id. He couldn't afford to mess up this task and he knew it.

It was just that Xinn was so magnificent when she was furious...

Six tried to wait patiently for Kit to gather his thoughts. Xinn _was_ rather attractive, and it was quite natural that the kid was enthralled by her, Six got that. But he needed Kit to concentrate right now. Having Rune on board was incredibly dangerous. They had no option but to buy the very best ID they could get, it had to be absolutely imp-proof. If anyone ever found out that Rune was alive…. It didn't bear thinking about. Going to Tatooine for the ID meant it would pass all known imp checks, but it would take every single credit from that jewellery and most likely more besides. He would have preferred not to have to sell it until a bit more time had passed, but it was a risk he would have to take. At least if they could be reasonably certain the haul from the Vortex wasn't something that the imps would be able to trace it lessened the risk considerably. That ID _needed_ to be watertight. And Kit needed to do a very thorough search. With an internal sigh Six settled down next to Kit and tried very hard to take an interest in search engines, algorithms and other claptrap for the next twenty minutes.

**One Tiny Speck**

Deckard couldn't believe her luck. Against all the odds she had found the Shadow Dancer. One tiny speck in the vastness of the galaxy.

She reached out with a finger and stroked the slightly blurred freeze-frame image on screen. This was really happening, the promotion was hers – if she could just get to Mattesta without any of her colleagues realising what she had.

After painstakingly going through hours of camera footage from each of the black boxes, and fuelled mainly by coffee, she was looking less than immaculate – rumpled in fact. It dawned on her that she needed to return to her quarters and get smartened up before the other analysts arrived for their morning shift.

She took one final, loving look at the shot she had isolated. The little freighter, moving purposefully through the detritus of the battle. No visible Crimson Dawn markers, not imposing or warlike, but on a clear trajectory to the Vortex.

Moving decisively, she loaded the shot on to her data pad, saved her full report on her personal workspace and again to an encrypted data crystal, then she methodically deleted all other, traceable, evidence of her work. Once she had cleared away the debris of too many coffees, she cast her eye over her little workspace, checking for anything that might give the game away. Then she slipped the crystal into her pocket, picked up her data pad and headed for her quarters on the underside of the Star Destroyer she reluctantly called home.

She was usually the first one in to the unit each morning, so she needed to shower and dress fast so as not to raise suspicion by being later than the rest of her colleagues. She didn't want to be first either though, she needed a witness that she hadn't been there all night. She daren't do anything that might give her colleagues reason to think she had pulled an all-nighter. There would only be one reason to do that and they would force her to give up her secret before she could get anywhere near that promotion.

This had to work, this had to work, she chanted in her head. Like a kid she picked up her pace and ran down the corridors. It was a punishable offence if she was caught running, but she couldn't afford to be seen out here returning at this time of the morning. She ran lightly, on her toes so that she made no noise. She kept herself fit and ready to run, so there was not even the noise of heavy breathing to give the game away. When she turned the final corner onto her corridor she could have shouted with relief. She was going to make it, she kicked it up a gear, one final sprint to her door.

She so nearly made it back to her spartan quarters unseen, but then only metres away from her room, she heard the swish of some one else's door opening right ahead.

For a moment her blood froze in her veins. What in the name of the Emperor did she do now? She skidded to a halt, her foot slipping in her haste to slam the brakes on. Any second now she was going to be caught heading towards her apartment – the worst possible scenario.

But it was as if having that thought in her head gave her the solution. She couldn't avoid being caught, but it didn't have to be _returning_.

She swung on her heel with a millionth of a second to spare.

'Hey! Deckard! Wait up!' It was Petrosk. Of all of them, he was probably the least weasily, but she still didn't trust him.

'You trying to steal my title as first one in?' she said aiming for humour. She realised she didn't remember how to sound jovial. She tried to tamp down the rising panic – she never joked. Why would she joke now when she was trying to act _normal_? How come suddenly she couldn't remember what normal felt like? How _did_ she act when she was being normal?

'Ha, no need to be snarky – can't be bothered to get up this early on a regular basis. I guess this chance for a promotion has got us all working harder than usual'. Snarky! He thought she was being snarky. That was definitely better. That sounded more like her usual self.

'Uh-huh' she tried to sound non-committal, aloof even.

'Ah, I know Tahndi is giving you a hard time, sorry – didn't mean to make you feel bad'

Why was Petrosk sounding like a normal human, she had no idea. 'Its fine. I'm used to it.' She sounded a little sharp, even to herself. 'You on to anything?'

'Nah. Tahndi gives the best leads to himself, and the next best leads to his cronies, the ones who will see him right if they find anything. The rest of us get the unlikely leads. You…well you get the work that isn't a lead at all.'

Deckard shrugged and realised she was gripping the little crystal in her pocket so hard it was cutting into her hand. 'Well, if Tahndi gets that promotion, then I guess his position will be up for grabs' she said in the most positive and professional voice she could muster.

'Hey' agreed Petrosk enthusiastically 'I hadn't thought of it quite like that. You're right, there could be another opportunity for us'

Deckard was impressed by his unconscious use of the word 'us'. Like he could conceive that a woman might be promoted. Still, she was relieved to arrive back at the unit, hoping to end this unwanted conversation.

'You want coffee – I'm fetching some for me – and let's face it you look like crap this morning. You have a bad night or something?' _Say it like it is Petrosk_.

Drat. 'Yes please. To the coffee. The night was fine' She could feel a blush starting a low burn up her cheek and kept her head down. The moment he disappeared out of view into the mess area, she hastened into the head and splashed cold water on her face and re-twisted her hair into a severe bun. With a frown on her face she looked much more like her usual self. If only her uniform wasn't quite so rumpled.

She hurried back out to her cubicle and made it just before Petrosk returned with the coffee.

'Thanks' she said clearly. She meant it, it was the first nice thing anyone in this place had done for her. She knew it was because there was no one else there to see him be nice to the outcast. And she certainly wasn't going to drink it, she wasn't stupid. But still, it was nice.

Now, to wait for Mattesta and think of a way to approach him. She didn't even notice Petrosk lingering hopefully by her desk for a second longer than was strictly professional.

Coming Up: The crew prepare for a trip to Tatooine and Six finally works up the courage to speak to Rune. Deckard tries to catch a break.


	4. Chapter 4

**Introductions**

The brothers had hauled their kill, some kind of large moose-like creature, and plenty of kindling back to a sheltered area not far from the ship. They worked easily in tandem as they had so many times before. Dan prepped the kill while Vail built the fire with selected aromatic branches to give the meat extra flavour from the smoke. While the crew might have been unaware of what they were up to it wasn't long before wisps of scent drifted into the hangar. Star, servicing the landing gear hydraulics was first to notice, and she crept outside to see where the unusual smells were coming from. Following her sensitive nose, she crested a little foothill and saw the flames. Alarmed for a moment, a movement alerted her to two large figures nearby. With relief she recognised the familiar shapes of Dan and Vail and impulsively ran down the hill to give them a hug. Then she spotted the roasting meat and galloped back to the caves to give her crew mates the joyous news. Word spread amongst them like wildfire. Before long the entire team was gathered around the fire at a respectable distance, watching the guys work and just breathing in the delicious smells. To try and distract them, Vail patiently taught Inez and Xinn how to scrub and chop the vegetables and which ones had to be peeled and which could be left with their skins on for extra flavour and nutrition.

The crew made themselves comfortable around the fire, sitting on tussocks of grass and smooth rocks, enjoying the warm spring evening. They chatted and laughed, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation. No danger, no immediate worries, no urgent tasks to be done, just anticipating the feast to come. When the time came to serve, the excitement ramped up and they fell upon the food as if they were starving wolves.

Silence fell upon them, there was only the sounds of contented chewing as everyone tried to savour every delicious mouthful and prolong the experience as much as possible.

When the last plate was licked clean, the feast was declared the best meal ever - by everyone but the cooks themselves, who grudging admitted it was ok. The crew were on a high, well fed and excited for the promise of real meat for several days to come.

Or placated, thought Six to himself. They would manage a few days more without asking questions, or he could tell them now and they would be easy going and agreeable – his choice.

He sat forward on his rock and the crew stilled. They took their signal from him without conscious thought. That was good. It could save their lives, it _had_ saved their lives on more than one occasion.

'Team, the imp prisoner is a girl – her name is Rune. If the imps found out she was alive they would want her back. You know we cannot allow the imps to have her – that goes against everything we stand for.' He took a breath, giving a moment for the information to settle, check for any unrest – he detected none – 'So we need to buy her fake ID - we always planned to buy fake ID, but to replace the Shadow Dancer name rather than a person. So we use the money for her instead.' He checked again for any signs of dissent, they would all know that personal ID was a lot more expensive. But hadn't he bought most of them fake ID? There were no rumblings of disapproval. Good. 'We leave for Tatooine tonight. Questions?'

No one had any. They didn't want to think about real life on this magical night. The girl in the med-bay didn't seem of concern to them right now. Only to Inez, who would surreptitiously check her monitor every few minutes.

Within minutes the conversations had resumed, along with a game of sabbac in one quarter. Six had brought out a bottle of something alcoholic, rescued from the Vortex, and this was shared around, erasing any possibility of questions about Rune. The crew laughed and drank and played; and Six sat and watched drowsily, enjoying some rare time for fun and relaxation with the people he thought of as his family.

Eventually he gave the signal, and the crew cleared away the remnants of the meal, scattered the warm stones and ashes from the fire – erased every sign they had ever been there. Then, as one, they trooped back to the ship and Six gave Kehl the nod. It was time to head out to Tatooine.

Rune returned to consciousness much faster this time; after only a minute or two of the haze she was able to marshal her thoughts and open her eyes. She could hear the thrum of the hyperdrive that told her they were going somewhere... she didn't waste any energy wondering where, no one was going to tell her, she was sure. Not the truth anyway.

She let her gaze rove around. There wasn't a whole lot of equipment in here, just the basics really. She could see the red door light was On, so she was locked in. She was still a prisoner. That much hadn't changed after all.

Possibly she was being monitored for a moment later the women - Inez? - returned to her side. 'Ah, you're awake again, that's good.' Rune noted she didn't lock the door, but then it had to be obvious that her patient couldn't even sit up, much less escape. 'Now I've been feeding you through a drip, but I would like to give you something a little more solid, some broth. Let me put you in a sitting position and we can give it a go.'

Suddenly the delicious scent of real, hot food filled Runes nostrils, and she felt her mouth water uncontrollably - she was so famished! She couldn't remember when she had last smelt anything so delicious, even as a child in the temple.

However, the process of getting her into a sitting position, propped against a pillow was agonising. She didn't have the strength to sit up by herself. Inez had to lift her bodily and then prop her up with one hand while she stuffed pillows behind her with the other. It wasn't easy for someone of her small stature, even with someone as skinny as Rune.

How Inez longed for one of those beds where you pressed a button and it sat your patient up for you. She would have smiled at the thought of how far down the priority list that item was, if it weren't for the fact that she really really needed one right now.

Finally, Rune was in position and as the woman brought the mug to her lips the girl began to drink hungrily. She had learnt never to refuse food, the Inquisitors were only too fond of enforcing periods of starvation to weaken her resolve. Most of the broth seemed to go down her front but the woman didn't seem to mind, and mopped up the wasted food good naturedly enough.

'Now you can eat real food again, you should start to get stronger faster. But you still need lots of sleep and rest, its natures best way of healing. How do you feel?'

Rune made a move that may almost have been a shrug, and then winced at the pain any kind of movement brought her.

Inez noted the response, such as it was, and hoped it was a positive sign that her cognitive functions were working ok. Rune might not have spoken yet, much less thanked them effusively for her daring rescue, but Six had made his Second aware of the logged observations suggesting the girl was descending into a vegetative state. Inez was not a doctor by any stretch, and not a psychiatrist either, but the girl was clearly responding to stimuli. They would just have to give her a little time to see if her voice returned.

Still, it was time to introduce her to Six before she got her strength back. Of all the crew, Inez was the only one who knew Six' secret. He had to speak to Rune now, leaving it any longer would only make it worse. If the girl recovered her strength and her connection to the Force, it would go even less well than it would when Rune was too weak to sit up for herself. Assuming Six was right and the girl didn't already know the truth about Order 66 and that the clones were as much a victim as the Jedi. As Inez gently lay the exhausted girl back down Inez resolved to bring Six to see her next time she awoke.

The trip to Tatooine wasn't a long one, even taking the circuitous route they used to avoid being reverse tracked to Homestead. Their new nav unit made it faster than ever.

Since Six had announced to the crew it was their next destination at the end of that delicious meal, no one had questioned the decision. They had things to buy and sell, and they needed fake ID for their new passenger. Xinn's home planet was their only viable destination really. The crew were all happy enough to have some down time in a bustling city, even one as dirty and smelly as Mos-Eisley. Most cities had a shady area considered to be the underbelly of the place. Mos Eisley was one big underbelly. Even the wealthy areas were populated with the Hutts and just as likely to get you killed as the slums.

Everyone apart from Kit spent an inordinately long part of the trip crafting a list of personal items they needed – in priority order. This was a job that everyone savoured, allowing themselves for a few minutes to imagine the luxury items they might be permitted and then – invariably – listing the absolute basics.

For poor Kit, his shopping wasn't a task he was given much time to devote to this time around. Six hounded him continuously on the status of the jewellery and he daren't stop searching. But despite the long hours and creative searches he came up with, Kit couldn't find anything of interest about the valuables from the Vortex.

Relieved that Kit was still drawing a blank, Six called a meeting of the crew an hour out from the dustbowl that called itself a planet.

He had their lists on his data pad and he watched them gather around, anxious to ascertain how likely it was they would get the stuff they wanted. From long experience their expectations were not high. It broke his heart that he couldn't give them all the things they wanted, they worked so hard for him. Still, it didn't do to show any emotion. He cleared his throat and spoke, maybe a little more gruffly than usual.

'Xinn, it's your task to take the sellable stuff from the carry bags and get the best price you can. The credits you get from that is to be used to get the personal items.' Kehl, Kit and the boys noticeably slumped in their chairs – adjusting their hopes even further downwards as they did so. They were not at all confident that Xinn was going to get a price good enough to get everyone their things.

Xinn nodded stoutly, not flinching. Six was clever. If she got a poor price for the goods the crew would just think she had delivered as they expected. If she got such a good price she could get all the items they wanted she would be popular and they would be more accepting of her. She may have been with them over six months, but she still wasn't entirely considered one of the family. This could be just the boost she needed. She knew how to haggle, she was confident of her negotiating skills and was on her home turf. She knew she was going to smash the task.

Once the important job of getting their personal items was dealt with, Six moved on to the jewellery they had collected. 'Xinn I want you to get the quote for Runes fake ID. If we get lucky we can use the jewellery to pay for it, but if not, it should at least make a hefty down payment.' Xinn nodded coolly, but inside she was thrilled to get another important task.

'Now, what equipment do we need for the ship?' enquired Six of his crew, bracing himself for a barrage. Inez immediately listed some urgent medical supplies and Star some tools, droid parts and maintenance items. Six shrugged doubtfully, not as bad as he had feared, but still expensive. 'Star and Kehl, you sell the surplus ship items and cargo. I'm going with Xinn. Once I have the price for the ID I'll know how much we have left of the funds you raise for fuel, food and those items - _if anything_.'

Xinn suppressed a grin. Six was going with her and he would see her skills in action, this was going to be a good trip. He would soon see that she could be much more use to him than Inez who didn't seem to have any useful skill she could ascertain.

Star and Inez nodded, they didn't hold out a lot of hope that they were going to have more money than they knew what to do with- new ID papers that could stand up to imp scrutiny didn't come cheap. ID for people was so much harder to fake because of all the genetic material involved, and consequently even more extortionately expensive. Still, Star was fond of the Shadow Dancer name, and she at least didn't rue the continual lack of credits too much – as long as her ship was ok at least. Besides, she was wily and Kehl imposing - she, like Xinn, was confident of a good price.

Inez spoke up reluctantly. 'There are a few of the medical items I need straight away.'

Six shrugged wearily. 'Yes of course, I should have thought. Tell Xinn what you need now and she can add them to her shopping list.' To her credit, Xinn managed not to scowl, but it took a supreme effort. That would put a dint in her ability to impress the crew with her haggling skills.

'Kit, take a short break from the jewellery hunting and get out in the neighbourhood and find out what's going on, if news of the raid on the imp convoy has surfaced, latest imp movements and so on - general recon.

As the crew went their separate ways from the briefing to prepare, Inez made sure to intercept Six. 'It's time. You need to speak to her. She's getting stronger. Six looked like a cornered animal. One who knew he couldn't avoid what was coming next, and knew it wasn't going to go well.

The girl was half-asleep when he tentatively stepped through the doorway of the med-bay. Her eyes opened slowly as if even that effort caused her some pain, but the second she registered his face he saw such terror pass across her face that for a second he could not comprehend that she was looking at him. The she exploded into action, throwing herself away from him, a thin, high-pitched scream wrenched from her lips. He stopped mid-stride in confusion as she flung herself backwards over the edge of the bed. There was a moment, almost in slow motion, where he thought she might try to save herself, but it seemed her only thoughts were to put as much distance between them as she could. He leapt forward instinctively to try and break her fall but managed to stop himself realising he would never reach her in time and that getting closer would only terrify her further. He watched in horror as she fell, twisting through the air. Landing on her side, she managed to roll to her stomach, her fingers scrabbling on the hard floor, desperate to get away. When she realised she was too weak to get a purchase, her breathless, near silent screams became so frantic he shrank back from her even further, pressing his back to the auto-locked door.

'Rune-'

She twisted back to face him as he spoke, her staring eyes bulging in fear, her finger tips bloodied.

He raised his hands in a universal gesture of surrender, but her panic made her oblivious. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't reach her. He pressed his thumb against the panel to unlock the door and took another step back into the doorway, and this she seemed to recognise on some primitive level. The scream faltered, though her eyes still swung wildly around the room searching for escape options that did not exist. There was one entrance, one exit - and he blocked the way.

'Kid, listen', he said softly. Her eyes fastened on him, though he wasn't sure she could hear him over her fast, terrified breaths.

'I am not here to harm you. I rescued you...'

Her eyes never left him for a second, like a mouse mesmerised by a snake.

'Yes, I am a clone ….' He paused and took a breath 'but I am not with the Empire. You've seen my crew, my medical facilities - you know we're not imps.'

Was he getting through? Did she understand? Her breaths were rasping harshly, her thin chest heaving as she fought for breath. He remembered Inez words. He had to tell her the truth now. He couldn't get out of this, no matter how badly it was going so far. Better to get it all out now, then he wouldn't have to try again. Surely it couldn't get any worse and it had to be a clean start for her to heal. He swallowed. She was still watching him, transfixed, but it was clear she was struggling to stay conscious.

'But I was once, I was there...at Order 66...I... did something I never wanted to do ... the Empire...I was programmed...I….'

Still no reaction from her. The sound of her shuddering breaths hung between them. It was so hard to say this out loud, if she would just give him some indication of what she was thinking…. His shoulders slumped, his palms towards her in surrender, he couldn't look in her eyes any more.

'I killed a Jedi master' it was more of a sob, the hurt that he had carried with him for so many years overflowing.

For just a second he thought he saw strands of lightening play around her bloody fingertips. He blinked a few times, there was no blue light, had he imagined it? But nothing else happened, she didn't use the force to attack him.

Inez, waiting in the corridor as back up heard the lengthening silence and willed her friend on. It would be cathartic for him to say this out loud in the presence of a Jedi, he needed to find the strength to keep going.

'I... you might wonder why I'm telling you this' - why was he? 'You have been abused at the hands of the Empire for years and in ways I cannot imagine. I escaped from them too. Now my crew and I, we have one mission and one mission only: fight the Empire. We try and save people and - and right wrongs. We can help you heal and set you down somewhere safe. Or when you are better, you could join my crew. As a Jedi, you can do more good than the rest of us put together. But I can't ask you to do that, to fight alongside us, if you don't know the truth about me. Order 66 is why I fight the Empire, there are times I don't want to go on…. Because I killed my friend, a man who fought alongside me with bravery and honour...' he gulped for breath, tears stinging his eyes. 'But every person on this crew has their reasons for being here. You are among friends, you are safe here ...' He realised he was on his knees, down at her level, and he didn't even know how he got there. As if he was waiting for the killing blow.

But it didn't come.

'Stay …. away.' It was no more than a whisper but he heard her crystal clear and so did Inez.

Whatever adrenalin had been driving the girl on vanished and she crumpled in an instance, sprawled semi-conscious on the floor. Her eyes, almost shut, still watched him though.

.

He didn't know what else to do, he could see she had all she could take for today. He glanced at the control panel but he didn't reengage the lock. He left and let the door slide shut behind him. Someone had to be the first to show trust, and if they wanted her to join them it had better be them that made the first move. His eyes told Inez everything she needed to know. He looked traumatised.

Inez thumped him on the back and overrode her immediate desire to rush in and see what had happened, instead she walked the few metres to his berth in silence.

'That was tough.' He looked grey.

'I know, but believe it or not, the worst is over'.

The clone didn't look convinced. 'You need to help her, she fell'

Six watched Inez run back to the bay and took refuge in his berth before his face revealed how shaken he really was by the girls naked terror. As if Inez couldn't tell any way, but he was glad to have his solitude to pull himself together.

What had happened to this girl to make her so scared of clones? She wasn't scared of order 66 and being shot in the back, of that much he was sure.

**The Shadow Dancer**

Deckard had been keeping her head down and pretending to work for over an hour before her chance came. She had run several scenarios through her head and none had very high chances of success. Any attempt to leave the department and go to the Lieutenant on the bridge would be quickly intercepted. She had to wait for him to come here, but she only had so long before someone checked her work.

If anyone had wandered by to see what she was doing they would have seen her looking at the escape pod logs. She daren't look at any of the data again that had led to her discovery. And if her Supervisor were paying any attention he would realise she had finished sending off the pod records the day before.

Typically, however, no one – Tahndi included – took the slightest interest in what she was doing. This mission was consuming everyone's thoughts, and she wasn't a part of it.

The relief when Mattesta walked into the room was over-whelming. She couldn't help but watch him as he strode up to Tahndi, loudly demanding an update from the weasily little creature. The pair spoke for maybe a minute, and it was clear from Tahndi's squirming that Mattesta wasn't happy with his lack of results. As was customary when the Lieutenant wasn't happy – which was quite frequently recently – he started to pace up and down. Every now and then he would stop off behind one of the analysts and demand to know what they were doing. These scare tactics worked on most of her colleagues, but she always gave a snappy summary and then offered to go into more detail if he wanted it. He had never shouted at her yet. And he had gotten into the habit of speaking to her most of the times he visited – which had only served to make her even less popular among her colleagues. She started a chant going in her mind. Come to me. Come to me. But he didn't come. She watched him visit three other analysts, shouting at each of them when they didn't show him what he wanted. But he didn't head her way. Did he know she hadn't been given any assignment that could conceivably lead to the Shadow Dancer? Or did he just feel in a shouting mood and not want to speak to someone who knew what they were doing? She felt a trickle of sweat between her shoulder blades. She longed for a shower. She needed to think. Fast. She grabbed her coffee cup and headed to the kitchen. She needed to be bold. 'Sir, may I fetch you a drink?' He whipped around, ready to bark at her, but held his tongue at the last moment. 'Yes' Then he turned back to scowl at his current underperforming victim.

She scurried to the little mess area, and risked a look around the floor. Typical male pigs, no one had thought twice about her offering to fetch Mattesta a drink. Exactly what a woman was worth. Hmm. She grabbed two fresh coffees. Now how to manoeuvre the Lieutenant to her desk?

He was shouting at a new victim when she emerged, so she headed for her desk and put her coffee down, then turned to try and catch his eye.

'Sir, why don't I get you a chair and you can see what I have been doing?' she said quietly as he turned.

He nodded, still furious about the lack of progress. She risked another glance around. Everyone knew he never shouted at her. This was generally agreed as being because she was a woman, and not because she was any good. The idiots' clearly thought she had decided to take one for the team and were still not suspicious. Tahndi was up front still sulking and licking his wounds; he hated looking foolish in front of his team and wasn't really paying attention.

She calmly got Mattesta settled in a chair with his coffee, right next to her, her heart pounding in her chest so loud she felt sure everyone must hear it. She felt her hair dampen with sweat.

'So let me show you what I have been working on'

She inserted the data crystal and clicked an icon. The picture of the Shadow Dancer came up, filling the centre of her screen. She heard Mattesta take in a stunned breath. Bingo.

Next time: The crew hit the streets of Mos Eisley and Rune tries to leave. Lieutenant Mattesta makes a very _very_ exciting discovery….


	5. Chapter 5

**Tea**

Inez headed back to the med bay and found Rune unconscious on the floor. She thoroughly checked her over for broken bones, but she hadn't sustained any serious injuries from her fall.

Inez, still longing for a bed that she could lower and raise, was forced to yell Vail. He picked the tiny girl up with ease and lowered her gently onto the bed, propped up against the pillows. He offered to stay and render assistance, but Inez shooed him out of the med bay before she could change her mind.

Being with Vail in the close quarters of the med-bay was an attractive proposition, but she needed to concentrate on her patient right now. With an internal sigh she spared a moment to appreciate his retreating form as he strode off, no doubt to tell the rest of the news-starved crew what he had seen. Inez would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the mess hall right about now, speculation would be rife….

Instead she concentrated on carefully dressing the girls injured finger tips and apply cooling compresses to the swellings starting to bloom on her right side. The shock of the cold brought Rune back to consciousness with a start. She stared around wild-eyed and only started to relax when she was sure Six wasn't there. Inez wondered what was going on in her head, but didn't comment on what had happened. She was no longer worried about any vegetative state, Six had brought her back to her senses in record time.

'I am going to get you some broth' she announced once she had put away her over-stretched med kit. Rune mewled in alarm and grasped ineffectually at her sleeve.

Inez stepped neatly out of reach. 'Six won't come back while I'm gone' she said kindly, but firmly. As much as she wanted to stay and comfort the scared girl, she made herself go and fetch the broth. Rune needed to learn she was safe on this ship.

When she returned a few minutes later, the girl was too weak from her exertions to hold anything, and Inez found herself nursemaid again. She patiently stood clasping the mug as her patient slowly drank from it, observing with resignation the fresh bruises blooming in front of her eyes on Runes pale arms.

As she stood, Inez pondered. She had no idea whether to interfere or not, but how could she say nothing to the girl? Six had saved them all, given them all a reason for carrying on when they had had nothing left to live on for. She didn't want Rune to think badly of him just because of events out of his control. She concluded that keeping quiet was not an option. As she put down the mug she sat on the edge of the bed and looked Rune in the eye.

'Rune, Six is a good man, the best of us. He hates the Empire for what they did to him and for what they are doing to the galaxy. He believed in the Republic, he hates injustice. He saved us all so we could help him fight for everyone's freedom. He is a great leader - we have achieved things together we could never have done alone. He gives our lives meaning. If you join us, you two will be great together. You can make a difference Rune...'

Rune didn't speak, just closed her eyes, and Inez could only hope she had said enough, and not too much. She wasn't a natural when it came to rallying cries, and had no aspirations to be a leader. She was very happy with this little crew, and she was sure Rune would fit right in. The tiny creature reminded her of her own daughter lost to the ravages of the Empire. Rune was here now, and maybe she could save this girl even though she hadn't been able to save her own baby girl, Cammie. Biting her lip, and hoping she hadn't blown it, she lay Rune back down again and slipped out of the med bay hoping to snatch a quiet moment of her own.

Once he had had a few minutes to recover his composure in his berth, Six went to find Inez and was waiting for her when she emerged with the empty mug.

Inez, for her part, realised a moments peace and quiet was like asking for a miracle on this ship and pasted an unconcerned expression on her face to hide the turmoil in her mind. Memories of Cammie always upset her and having a critically ill patient who was both an imp fugitive and a jedi was adding to the intense pressure she was feeling. Six having an existential crisis right now was the icing on the cake. The crew, and Six especially, relied on her to know what she was doing, but sometimes she was just as scared and uncertain as everyone else.

She headed for the mess and tried not to notice how Six had to shuffle awkwardly alongside her, trying to shorten his naturally long stride to match her slower pace. She had never seen him so anxious and clumsy.

'Now what? She hates me!'

Inez shrugged with deliberate nonchalance and elbowed him out the way so that she could enter the little kitchenette and set some tea to brew. Jawas teeth if she didn't need it right now. Six refused to believe that he could have social skills of his own, and insisted she coach him through life's more uncertain interactions. At first Inez was happy to do it, but now she was coming to see that he had learnt what he could from her, as any child would from its mother and now he had to start learning for himself and making his own mistakes. But it was a heck of a time to start out on his own. There was just so much at stake. But was there ever a good time for them? Besides, she didn't think there was a wrong and right way to handle this. Speaking and acting from his heart would be the best way forward for him with this girl. She would sense anything that wasn't true. Their fledgling relationship had to resonate for both of them. They had to take each other at face value and not pretend. They had to both say what they meant. But how to give Six the confidence to do that?

'You are our Commander, she has to get used to that fact. You need to make sure you speak to her every single day.'

'What? Are you mad? Didn't you hear what she said? She _hates_ me!'

'Nonsense, she doesn't know you. She sees you as a clone the same as every other clone right now.'

'And she is afraid of me….'

'Listen, she needs to get to know you as an individual, and the only way she can do that is if she sees you every single day. She can't maintain that level of fear if she knows you will go out of your way to see her regularly – you don't need to go up close to her at first. In time you will become a familiar part of her mental landscape. Then you will start to make progress.'

'But what do I say to her?'

'Just tell her what is going on each day, where we are heading. Mundane things.'

Inez started scrubbing the crusted mug and sighed. 'I thought we agreed we would leave some of the meat and veg for Rune to get better quicker, but the meat's nearly all gone.'

Six snorted 'I was going to say that while we agreed to let Rune have some of the food, I didn't mean all of it. So, if you haven't taken, who has?'

'It's not like anyone to take more than their share. Maybe someone thought I had taken some for Rune already and put it on one side.' Inez decided that one cup wasn't going to be enough and pulled out her favourite Bithian teapot. Favourite and also biggest, purely coincidentally.

'Maybe' said Six doubtfully. 'Just lately everyone has been eating me out of house and home. We are getting through rations for 8 people.'

'Well we are 8 people'

'Yes, but you, Kit and Star don't eat your full rations, so we usually run at 7. Using an extra ration a day affects my budgeting'

'Have you heard yourself? You're budgeting now?' replied Inez perhaps a trifle more waspishly than she intended. She glowered at the tea as if that might help it to brew faster and then gave it a more practical stir to help it along.

'Have to, don't I. The crew is getting bigger all the time, takes more resources - and we should be spending more time on the missions, less time on the cover story…. I did a management course on-line.' He added a little sheepishly.

'Good for you' said Inez fighting to keep a serious expression on her face, and not allowing the sudden laughter bubbling up inside her to escape.

'Anyway, you are changing the subject. What kind of mundane things?'

'Well... in case you have forgotten, we need to get images of Rune for her Id. To start with you can tell her that Dan and Vail will be paying her a visit and she needs to cooperate.'

'Aren't they a bit big and scary to introduce her to?'

'Nonsense. They are crew. They helped you to save her life. She needs to meet everyone sooner rather than later, perfect time.'

Six nodded ruefully, taking her outward appearance of confidence at face value as she had known he would. He strode out of the kitchenette and she knew he would embark on a night of script writing now, trying to come up with the right words to say to Rune the next day.

Inez, for her part, poured her first cup of tea, sat shakily on the floor and had her minute alone.

The Shadow Dancer arrived at Tatooine on schedule. Tatooine was always busy. It was easy enough to slide into the stream of traffic, contact the space port and bag a landing bay, a cheap place on the outskirts of the city. They queued patiently for their descent window and then flew down in an orderly manner, just one ship in the multicoloured streams of incoming and outgoing vessels.

Throughout their descent Inez was scanning for trouble. It was no issue to be actively observing at such a busy port. Their scan wouldn't be picked out from anyone else's. The place was choc-full of mercs, slavers and bounty hunters: only a fool wouldn't be scanning for trouble. She easily established that there was only a minimal imp presence. No large ships in permanent orbit. They should have no problems leaving the sandy planet when they were ready.

By the time Khel had expertly docked the ship the crew was ready to leave on their assigned tasks. Inez refrained from commenting that it wasn't fair that yet again she had to stay behind. She had no love for Tatooine, preferring cooler, greener planets to this. As Kehl rushed out the cockpit to join Vail, she took the opportunity to climb up onto his more comfortable pilots chair. She programmed a continuous security scan of their hangar bay from this relative comfort, enjoying watching the movement of the spaceport through the forward window. She didn't intend to leave the ship unoccupied at any point, but the Shadow Dancers scanners could detect intruders far more easily and thoroughly than her humanoid occupants. Job done, Inez went to check on Rune and then started inventorying her medical stocks. Which took her all of three minutes. Including booting up her data pad and dropping, picking up and counting the scattered contents of a box of swabs.

After her initial thrill of finding Six was partnering her, Xinn had prepared meticulously for their task. It meant no goofing off to see her friends or squirreling away any of the proceeds for her own ends, but she was looking forward to her chance to impress the Commander with her negotiating skills. She was ready as the ramp went down, but there was no sign of Six as the others piled out into the gritty street to get on with their tasks. Where _was_ he?

Just before landing Six had called in briefly on Kit to see if he had come up with any last-minute red-flags on the jewellery. Six still felt a little paranoid about selling the stuff so soon. Kit suppressed a sigh at the sight of the clone hovering over him yet again, and explained patiently that nothing stood out as unique, although there were several items that he could find nothing out about – but that was to be expected in a galaxy wide search of jewellers. At least there was no one posting that they were looking for such items either – that was a good sign. He also felt there were several quite valuable items but in each case there were others for sale, no one would be suspicious that they had one to sell.

Six internally concluded the risks were minimal and worth selling the lot if it meant Rune could have top notch ID. There was no reason for anyone to think she could be alive and come after them, surely. He also concluded that he was just putting off the inevitable. With reluctance he instructed Kit to get out into the port and get on with his recce and braced himself to go see Rune again.

Six still wasn't sure what to expect or what to say – even after spending most of the night wracking his brain for the right words. He wasn't sure the right words existed.

He palmed the door open, and stood on the threshold, not daring to set foot any closer. She was propped up against a couple of pillows with her eyes closed. But she looked up instantly when she heard the door swish open, quivering with alertness. She looked so small. And so afraid. He could see her stiffen and brace herself as if for flight, but she didn't start screaming or throw herself off the bed at least.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it, her terror evident, even as her long silence caused her to trip and stumble over the unfamiliar words. 'I am grateful. You rescued me, I know.' She wasn't looking directly at him, staring at a spot over his shoulder. But he could tell she was watching him from her peripheral vision for any hint of movement towards her. He held himself completely still as she continued haltingly. 'But I am afraid ... of everything... I am not connected to the force... I can't …. feel it. I'm not worth your trouble. I may never have any worth to you. You should just let me go. I'm sorry I can never repay the debt I owe you.

Six almost laughed, it was quite clear that she had been rehearsing what she was going to say to him every bit as much as he had been trying to rehearse what he should say to her. Suddenly he had no shortage of words.

'Rune, we have just arrived on Tatooine, if I drop you off here in your current state you will be taken and sold into slavery before you have been on the planet ten minutes. You have no ID, and even if you don't get taken by the traffickers, the only way off this planet will be on a chartered passenger liner to another system, and for all of those you will be apprehended by the imps _because you have no ID_. Things have moved on a lot since you were free... And besides, Rune, I don't care if you never use the Force again. We rescue people from the Empire, it's part of what we do. You don't need to have a value or try and repay us. You just need to get better and it will have been worth it. Don't even think about what you can do on this ship, just think about getting better. I shouldn't have asked you to join us so soon, I was just overwhelmed to have a Jedi on board. Ok? And I cannot set you free because you are not a prisoner and if you can stand up and walk off this ship unaided I will not prevent you.' He paused, but she didn't move – 'But you are still too weak to do that, so we will do everything we can to heal you and get you strong enough to have the choice of whether you go or stay. We want you to stay, but it will be your choice.' He took a breath, but she still didn't speak.

'So, its settled, you will stay on board with my crew, and when you are fit and healthy and have ID, then we can talk about this again. If you still want to leave, we can find a much better planet than this to put you down on, believe me.'

Rune tried to still the shaking of her body and remain calm at his words, she knew he was right about the ID. Being a Jedi had opened a lot of doors in her past, right before everything had changed and those doors had been slammed in her face. It was easy to figure how being a normal person she would need ID, papers that proved she wasn't Rune any more, just someone who would never be of any interest to the Empire.

There was no getting around this, she would have to stay a little longer. And she was no further forward in finding out if she was still a prisoner or truly had been rescued. But she needed to get away from the clone at all costs and she needed to find a safe place to hide. Still her sense of honour told her that if she had been rescued she needed to have one last try to do the right thing by this crew.

'I understand….and I'm grateful. But is it worth it when I will bring you only trouble and expense and leave as soon as I can?'

'Yes, Rune, it is'

Rune looked down, it was obvious to her that she was never going to convince him to let her go, unless she told him how she intended to survive, and she couldn't do that. She still couldn't quite believe she wasn't in some Inquisitor trick to beat her last defences to a pulp. This whole set up was too good to be true. And even if it were real and not an elaborate ruse, she knew she had a substantial credit value – and these people were clearly not swimming in money. When it came to the crunch would they let her go? Or would temptation get the better of their good intentions? At least, she wasn't quite as defenceless as they all thought…..

'I offer my thanks then. But...I still need something from you...'

He nodded encouragingly, ready to agree to anything to get her on side.

'You still need to stay away from me.'

Six bit his lip, but didn't reply immediately. He remembered Inez words and braced himself to speak words she did not want to hear.

'Rune, I cannot promise to stay away completely, but I can promise not to bother you unnecessarily'. Rune flinched but said nothing, he saw a bead of sweat roll down her brow. She still couldn't bring herself to look directly at him. He continued doggedly. 'I am going off ship now to try and secure you some ID. For the ID to be made I will need holo's, retinal and fingerprint scans. A couple of my crew, Dan and Vailian, who risked their lives to help me get you off your ship, are masters of this sort of thing, I am going to send them to you to get the data we need. Ok?'

Rune nodded but her lips remained sealed. He noticed her knuckles were white where they gripped her blanket, her barrier between them.

He backed out and let the door slide shut behind him before he allowed his body to react to her words. His hands were shaking. He had never seen someone so utterly terrified of him. It wasn't a good feeling. In his day, clones were heroes, fighting for the good of the people and the noble Republic. What had happened to her?

Six shakily set off down the corridor, listening out for the boys. He knew they would be either hanging out in the upper gun turret watching the world pass by outside the open doors of the hangar and generally not doing very much or they would be in the part of the cargo bay they had converted into a gym, working out like lunatics. At this time of the morning he guessed gun turret and he was right. Still they were keen enough to be given a task and he hurriedly explained that he needed them to set Rune up with some photos, and genetic data for her new ID. He knew they had ways and means of altering these materials so that they were close enough to get through any imp checkpoint, but not quite the same so that if you were, for example a wanted criminal, you were not an exact match. They were very keen to meet Rune properly and get one up on the rest of the crew so they assured him enthusiastically that his wish was their command. Six harrumphed good-naturedly at their cheeky tone and hurried off.

Xinn! Six knew she would be waiting and cross with him by now. It was a fair distraction from thinking about Runes response to him. He didn't understand why she affected him so. He was a clone after all, he wasn't supposed to be in touch with his feelings.

Maybe if she could get back in tune with the force she would see that he meant no harm? He felt a sharp lurch in his stomach, how he longed for those days when he was doing exactly what he was created for, running with the Jedi's, openly fighting the bad guys. Not this running and hiding, striking covertly.

No Jedi's. Why did that matter? why should he care about that? Jedi knew clones were disposable, they sent them to their deaths on a daily basis. And yet, Jedi's would go to their own deaths equally quickly if that was what was required. Was it the Jedi he had been searching for all these years? is that why he felt so empty all the time, why he burned with the need to avenge himself against the Empire? Why he didn't care if he died on one of these missions? Why he wanted to just sit and gaze at her?

He thought about his dream of delivering a Jedi to Contact, someone who could be a figure head for the resistance movement they were putting together. It could turn the tide against the Empire. That had long been the wish that kept driving him across the galaxy. So why did he no longer feel like that was a good idea? Now he looked at her and wanted to hide her far far away from the Empire, someplace they could never find her and hurt her again.

Why did nothing ever turn out the way you expected? Why did life twist and turn so?

**The Gift that Keeps on Giving**

Mattesta gazed down at the sleeping Admiral. He looked frail and vulnerable in this hospital bed, but the young officer knew he had to harden his heart. The man had sounded the Abandon Ship when there was still fighting to be done - and as Lockee had informed him, there was no coming back from that. His career was over. It passed fleetingly through Mattesta's mind that it might be the Admirals life that was over as well. He got the sense that Lockee had made arrangements...

'Admiral' he barked, and the man awoke and took a few moments to come to his senses.

'I am Lieutenant Mattesta. I am authorised to interview you about what happened with the convoy.' A doctor bustled over to interrupt this abrupt treatment of his patient, but a quelling look from Mattesta sent him scurrying off. He suppressed the thrill of having a stranger be afraid of him and kept the stern expression on his face.

Ever since Deckard had found the Shadow Dancer, things had moved fast. The only ship the freighter had docked with had been the Vortex. How they had known about the location of the jump point or the Crimson Dawn attack would probably remain a mystery until the crew was apprehended and interrogated. But one thing was certain they wouldn't have boarded the wealthy Admirals ship and taken nothing. Therefore, the obvious thing to do was track down anything stolen from the Vortex that could give them a clue as to the Shadow Dancers current location. And to do _that_ they needed to know what valuables the Admiral had kept on board.

Mattesta withdrew a recorder from his pocket and sat at the conveniently placed chair by the Admirals head. If the patient felt this treatment was inappropriate for his rank, he didn't protest. He seemed to have prepared himself for some sort of interrogation and didn't waste time on preamble.

'As I am sure you already know, the route to the base in question requires ships to drop out and recalculate for the final leg of the jump due to the changing nature of the local systems. This recalc was to be done by the astrogator on the Talon and uplinked to the other ships in the convoy, rather than completed by the individual ships. It takes only a minute, but during that minute - before we had the coordinates transmitted to us, a formation of six attack ships dropped out and began an assault. They were large and well-armed, bearing the Crimson Dawn markers. Our attack ships and my own cruiser fought back hard. However, the group clearly had inside intel. All their fire concentrated on the Talon from the start. They were able to blow it out of the sky almost immediately - and that left the rest of us sitting ducks. Without those coordinates we had nowhere to go, apart from back - and that was a chunky calculation for our ships to make - we were not in a well-travelled area. I tried to contact the Trojan as they regularly travelled this route and would have the return coordinates already programmed – I wanted them to transmit them to all remaining ships, but even as I was speaking to them a hit took out my engine room and knocked us off our feet. I am told I banged my head and was knocked unconscious, I don't remember anything after that. My second tells me the hyperdrive was destroyed and the engines rendered critical, so with no way to get out of there he ordered the Abandon Ship and carried me to an escape pod. He will of course be disciplined - there was still power available, we could have carried on fighting and given the other ships a chance to escape.

Mattesta raised an groomed eyebrow, this was exactly the correct response. Maybe the wily old Admiral would survive, and it would be the second who took the rap. He would have to get Deckard to confirm whose authority code gave the Abandon Ship so that he could verify - or not - the Admirals story.

'I need to ask you some questions about your ship. It didn't blow straight away and the scavengers boarded it and, we believe, took some of the contents. Finding your belongings should lead us to the perpetrators. We have your inventory, but I am more interested in the personal items on board. Did you have any unusual or valuable items that would be easy to identify if they turn up on the black market?

The Admiral turned to regard the younger man fully for the first time. 'Why? What does it matter? Surely there is footage of the raiders that will help you identify them?'

'Answer the question.'

The older man frowned. 'Well it's hard to say...'

Mattesta glared at him impatiently, he didn't want to give away that he was only interested in this whole escapade because he wanted to find the ship that boarded the cruiser and couldn't care less about the Crimson Dawn attack.

However, the Admiral, seemed to reach some internal revelation and visibly blanched as a realisation dawned. 'You think the prisoners escaped on that ship?'

Mattesta hadn't thought anything of the sort, not even being aware that there were prisoners on board. His enjoyment of watching the proud man squirm faltered, but he maintained his stern glare while his brain groped desperately for an appropriate response that wouldn't give anything away.

It seemed his glare was enough to do the trick all on its own as the Admiral blurted 'Does Lord Vader know that the prisoners have escaped?'

Mattesta felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine. What the heck was going on? He needed to tread very carefully now. He decided to take a risk. 'Yes, and Lord Vader is not happy.'

The man went visibly grey at this, his eyes darting frantically about the ward as if he expected the notorious right hand of the Emperor to bear down on him at any second. Two med droids hastened over to check on the furious beeping from his vital signs monitor. Mattesta made no attempt to send them away this time and only hoped he hadn't over done it. No one had told Vader anything at all, but it had given him a thrill to say it. An opportunity to speak to the Sith Lord was beyond his wildest dreams.

He stepped back out of the droids' way and watched as they worked, it was several tense minutes before they seemed satisfied that the Admiral was stable again.

Mattesta breathed a sigh of relief and decided to press his advantage while the Admiral was weak. 'Your only hope of redemption is to think of something that helps us to get them back. You can start by explaining why none of your crew took the prisoners with them'

The Admiral nodded hurriedly. 'No one else on the ship knew of their import. My prisoner was a gift for Lord Vader, he offered a reward to anyone who could find him such a creature. I had spent a long time and endured a lot of personal risk and expense to find one of these beasts and I wouldn't let anyone else near it. Highly dangerous, I couldn't afford to have it escape. No one opened that door but me. The other, I don't know much about. I was just asked to transport her to Tarkin alongside my own prisoner. I had to go out of my way to fetch her, was nearly late to join the convoy. She was a pitiful little thing' he mused, 'More than half dead. Tarkin was to take both prisoners to Lord Vader.'

The Admiral frowned as if he hadn't been pleased about that. Understandable if he had gone to a lot of trouble to impress the Sith Lord and then never actually got to meet him. The old man seemed to suddenly remember the question. 'My crew only knew she was to be delivered to Moff Tarkin, they had no idea she was a Jedi.'

Mattesta felt a bit faint: Vader _and_ Tarkin were wrapped up in this? He couldn't believe his luck; this day was a gift that kept on giving. Deckard had brought them a far greater prize than anyone could ever have hoped for.

The Admiral carried on, unaware of the excitement he had caused in the young officer. 'That will be why no one took them, they wouldn't have given them a second thought. But you know... my prisoner is wily, if my men tried to move him unprepared he would have slaughtered them. Could be he escaped and killed the scavengers and the girl and has gone back to his home planet. If by some miracle they did manage to keep them under lock and key, you might find them on the black market soon enough. They would both bring a huge price.

'Yes, that's true' agreed Mattesta trying to calculate the astronomical price of a captive Jedi and concluding that it was more money than he would see in his lifetime unless he started to get some very rapid promotions. 'But we won't know until we hunt down the scavenger ship and selling those two for the right price would take some careful planning. The quickest way to find the ship is if your possessions are being sold on somewhere in the meantime. Think man! What else did you have on board that we could track?'

The Admiral nodded, eager to comply and save his own skin. Mattesta, however, had lost all interest in vindicating him, he was imagining himself at Vader's right hand.

Coming up next: Xinn shows off her haggling skills and Mattesta enjoys himself...


	6. Chapter 6

**Mos Eisley**

Xinn was waiting with ill-concealed impatience when Six found her, sat outside on a crate, tapping her foot. She had two carry bags at her feet, and little whorls of dust rose up in the sunshine blurring their outline with each tap.

Six was keen to see how Xinn went about her selling task, but didn't want to cramp her style. Being a clone made him instantly recognisable as an imp, so he was cloaked and had a native sand mask over his eyes and nose. No inhabitant of Mos Eisley was going to give a good price to an imp.

Xinn nodded approval at his attire and led the way out into the hot, rancid atmosphere of the bustling spaceport.

Six found the heat, filth and general untrustworthiness of the local population somewhat oppressive, but he had a job to do. So he kept his eyes and ears open and his uncovered mouth shut. Xinn had foisted the two bags on him, one small but heavy with the jewellery and one bulging with the other clothes and belongings they had liberated from the Vortex. Now she strode confidently through the market place with the air of a queen, or at least a person very at home in this dangerous city. Every now and then she would pause to peruse a stall holders wares as if she had all the time in the world and then she would be off again, striding purposefully towards her unknown destination.

Not much had changed since her childhood spent haunting this place looking for ways to make an easy credit or two. But then, she reflected, despite how much had happened since she left this planet, it wasn't really that long ago.

Eventually, after a few twists and turns which showed her that she had several gang factions and street urchins following her with interest she arrived at the tent of one of the most notorious fences in the teeming market. He had a stall right at the back, conveniently leaning on the city wall and rumoured to have a handy underground tunnel leading under the wall for transporting bought and sold goods that were not necessarily legal. And for something to be illegal on Tatooine it had to be pretty extreme.

The owner was sat on a chair outside his shelter enjoying some peace and sunshine in the middle of the chaos and upheaval all around him. Despite the market place being packed elbow to antennae with shoppers of every conceivable race, there was a space all around him and his tent, as if there was some invisible barrier around them. Xinn didn't hesitate but went straight to him and threw herself in the chair opposite him.

'Well met Hiaru'.

The aforementioned Hiaru inclined his head graciously.

'I have some items I would like to pass on to new owners, I thought maybe you would like to have first viewing'.

'My child, I am a simple stall holder. I am willing to try and help you.'

Xinn jerked her head at Six and he drew forward with the larger bag and emptied the contents on the low table as she indicated.

Hiaru cast a disinterested glance over the items, picked up the corner of a luxurious cloak and examined the stitching for a moment. 'Nice, but not much use round here.' He named a shockingly low price.

Xinn laughed loudly, apparently enjoying herself. 'I'm sorry, are we not in Mos Eisley the best place in the galaxy to find star ship captains, smugglers and pirates all with very over-inflated opinions of themselves and their importance?

Hiaru, who made a very comfortable living from preying on this deluded bunch, allowed himself a small smile and her a tiny nod of acknowledgement of a parry well made.

He named a better price, but one still at the bottom end of what Six was hoping to get.

Xinn adopted a mournful expression and then glanced imperiously at Six. 'Pack up, it seems there is no point in getting the good stuff out.'

Six took only half a step forward before Hiaru held up an admonishing palm. 'Let me see the items again, maybe I missed something in my haste.' Six resumed his comfortable stance. He knew full well that Hiaru had clocked the less bulging but obviously heavy bag the moment they arrived.

The stall holder went over the items for a second time with a great show of examining them in detail. Xinn knew he had seen everything he needed to the first time, this was all part of the ritual. She waited politely. It wouldn't do to upset Hiaru, he had powerful allies. He would be very useful if she could get to the position where he respected her but thought he had a good deal. She had to tread that line ever so carefully.

This time he named a fair price, not over the top but enough that with some haggling she could make a good dint in the shopping list.

'Done.' From nowhere one of Hiaru's minions appeared with a credit stick, transferred the credits to Xinn's and departed back into the darkness of the tent having scooped up the items.

Once the flap of the tent had settled behind him, Xinn motioned to Six. Crunch time.

Without haste Six emptied the contents of the second bag.

Hiaru spent longer this time. Examining each item with a scanner that appeared from under a flap of his dusty robe, and making the odd harrumphing noise.

Xinn watched every nuance of expression, she had no real idea how much these items were worth. This was why she had split the jewellery out. She had to establish her credentials as a worthy opponent with the stuff she did know the value of before she presented the stuff she didn't.

She got the impression that he had found one or two items that excited him, but she kept her face expressionless, and concentrated on remaining calm. She was probably being scanned right now and her responses, blood pressure and adrenalin levels assessed.

Eventually the wily old trader stood up and looked at her.

He named a price.

Xinn nearly fell off her chair, it took every ounce of her self-control not to react, not to show the tremble that ran through her body. She hadn't expected that as an opening gambit. That meant there was plenty more credits to haggle for here. She merely raised an eyebrow.

Hiaru sighed in a long-suffering way. 'And what were you thinking?'

Xinn named a price inflated by 83%. Her favourite number. She wasn't daft enough to be so obvious as to double it. He didn't reject the offer out of hand, that was a good sign.

Eventually he ventured: 'Is this from the imps'

Six froze. why would he think that? And what would Xinn say?

His co-pilot shrugged unconcernedly. It could be for all I know, but it's good to go. I trade on a lot of imp worlds and none of it is erm, hot right now, if that's what you mean'. She was sure no one was looking for these items and she also knew that Hiaru wouldn't care too much if they were imp. He had plenty of ways of avoiding the strong arm of the Empire on this and many other planets.

'Plus, I have some other business I may be able to put your way.'

'Maybe we should move into my tent for these negotiations?' It was a question.

Xinn nodded, it was exactly that kind of business.

She left Six outside and strode into the danger zone with an air of confidence. Six swept the items quickly back into the bag and slung it over his shoulder. Ready for action.

It was dim, cool and surprisingly high tech inside the outwardly rustic lean-to. Hiaru gestured politely for her to take one of the comfortable chairs at the table. 'So what else can I do for you?'

'I need some ID, sadly my friend has lost hers and needs replacements that she can't get from her home planet'.

'I see... Completely new ID is not cheap.' Xinn let out an internal breath she hadn't realised she was holding. If he had denied he could get the papers then it would have been time to leave. He trusted her enough to enter into his real business with her.

'A full set of papers with corresponding planetary updates would cost you every credit from that jewellery, and that is a generous deal.

Xinn shook her head decisively. She wanted to get the medical equipment if she could. 'Honoured Hiaru. I do not mean any disrespect, I know your papers are the best in Tatooine, it is why I came straight to you. But I need the papers and 5,000 credits or I cannot deal'.

Hiaru harrumphed again and lapsed into a silence, his eyes never leaving her face as he considered.

Xinn had to work hard to maintain her open, relaxed pose - she didn't think she had ever felt this tense.

You are asking for a lot.

Xinn inclined her head politely but gave no quarter.

The silence stretched on. Eventually Hiaru let out a bark of a laugh. 'I like you. You have nerves of steel. 2,000 credits are my final offer.'

It was Xinns turn to sit in silence and compute the numbers. She figured she could get what she needed to impress the crew. When she dare leave it no longer she announced 'deal wise one' and they shook hands in the traditional manner.

Bring me the details and half the jewellery and I will begin. It will take 48 hours.

Xinn strode out with what she hoped was an air of calm purpose, beckoned nonchalantly to Six - who was almost frantic with worry after such a long time - and walked away without looking back. Even though her spine was tingling like she might be shot in the back.

She kept her nose in the air and said nothing to Six as they walked. She had to maintain the air of being the boss. Still she took some twists and turns to lose the multitude following them. In one shop entrance, out a different exit, the standard stuff. Once she had lost the bulk of them, she dipped into another shop with Six right behind her, as soon as they found a blind spot they turned their coats inside out and she put her hood up, Six put his down and they left separately, Xinn carrying the jewellery in a fancy neon back pack.

When they were both sure that had lost their tails, they headed for the ship.

They both arrived back within minutes of each other and Xinn related to Six how the haggling had gone and the terms of the deal that had been struck. Six was impressed with the prices she got and the deal with the jewellery, but it was clear to both there had to be something in that sack that had got Hiaru hot under the collar. With a feeling of dread Six went to go and see if Kit was back so he could set him back on with research. They needed to figure out which item or items was causing the excitement. Unfortunately, the kid wasn't back yet so he sought out Dan and Vail to see how they had got on with their disguise task.

While he did that, Xinn dug out a fancy lady's face mask and a long gown - not her usual mode of dress and packed them in her back pack. Then she turned her coat back the right way round ready to take the Id data to Hiaru. Once that was done, without returning to the ship she could lose the inevitable tail that the old smuggler would set on her, change into her dress disguise and then shop. Six wasn't accompanying her this time, and she was looking forward to some time on her own. She hoped the boys were done gathering the data from their guest, she was anxious to get going.

Dan and Vail had both jumped at the chance to properly meet their mysterious new crew member. Six hadn't even set foot on the Tatooine dust before they were gathering their equipment. What had started out as experiments in camouflage for hunting had developed into an art form until they were masters of disguise. They had wigs, make up, padding, contact lenses and many other tools of their trade.

They descended on the med cupboard, as they liked to call it, in a jovial mood, whooping and shouting their hellos as they swept in to the tiny room. Such was their size poor Inez had to stand outside in the corridor with her hands on her hips feeling exasperated but also like this was probably A Good Thing for her patient. It had been rather quiet and dull for Rune so far, apart from the fighting for her life bit. Inez could see that while the girl looked a little overwhelmed and tired, she didn't look scared, she didn't look terrified for her life as she had when Six had stood quietly in her doorway.

They introduced themselves and she thanked them gravely for saving her life. They bowed with pretend modesty and then roared with laughter before talking over each other in their excitement at having something to do for this new girl.

'Ah, that was nothing, there was at least 3 seconds before the ship blew!'

'Now this is the part that will truly save your life'

'We are going to make you look enough like you that you will get through imp facial recognition scans and all the other checks they dream up, but not enough like you that your id will come up as a 100% match for the real you on any databases.'

'Finger prints are trickiest – did they ever take your prints?'

Rune half shrugged, half shook her head – she didn't remember them doing, but then she spent quite a lot of time and energy trying very hard not to remember any of the past few years….

'Ok, that's good….' Dan was inspecting Runes hair and winced. It was matted with blood still. 'Now we will go with a wig, and then you are so pale we are going to darken your skin to the point it could be your natural skin tone, or a good tan. That is always a subtle but effective disguise. We can't change your eye colour, but we will slightly change the shape of your nose for the picture so you look different to the humanoid eye, but the same for a computer'.

Rune tried to follow the logic, but she was already exhausted from seeing Six that morning so she just nodded and went with the flow. She had quickly picked up that the 'boys' as Six had called them, just loved to chatter. Their voices were interchangeable, where one stopped the other picked up. They were clearly together a lot and used to being quite vocal.

Inez, sat inelegantly in the corridor watching the proceedings was astonished for the opposite reason. She had never heard either one chatter before, and this long stream of narrative was unbelievable. This seemed to be their attempt to fill in the void of silence, and maybe put the girl at her ease, and it was working clearly, but Inez would never have guessed that they would have found any kind of silence uncomfortable, when they were usually monosyllabic at best. She wished Six could see this. He would never believe her.

In no time at all, with their skilful application of makeup and plumping, they had transformed Runes hollow, pale face with its almost grey complexion into that of a healthily round and suntanned carefree girl with sun-bleached hair. Inez couldn't believe her eyes, it was Rune, but Rune if she had had a completely different life. There was no sign of any bruising, no sign of the hunger and fear.

It didn't take long before the boys had everything they needed and they departed, yelling that they would come back and see her soon. Rune was astonished to find that she was a little sad to see them go. Human company. It had been so long, since she had had a conversation about nothing at all, since she had heard joyous laughter…. It would be hard to leave it behind again.

Six was pleased to find Dan and Vail had all the data Xinn needed. He took the data pad from them and gave them their next task. He needed them to tail Xinn and make sure she was safe while she went back to Hiaru's and then shopped. They were just as up for a trip off the ship and the chance to exercise their superior stealth skills as they had been for the disguise task. They knew Xinn was tricky they were looking forward to pitting their wits against hers.

Next Six went looking for Star, he knew she and Kehl were back on board and he needed to ask a favour. Of course, he would shape it as a command. Somebody needed to take care of Rune, she couldn't stay in the med-cupboard – darnit – med _bay_ for ever. A girl her own age would surely be ideal.

And by the time he had done that he was sure Kit would be back with news of the city, and then they could take one more look at the jewellery. Maybe then he would rest easier. Maybe.

Six had found Star easily enough in engineering and explained her new task to her. He had presented it as a question, a favour, but Star recognised a command when she heard one. If she didn't say yes, that was what this would become. So she said yes, against her own judgement and here she was now, dawdling nervously towards the room where the mad girl waited for her. Why Six had picked her to coddle the creature she had no idea. Surely one of the others would have done a better job of bonding with it, and integrating it with the rest of the crew?

Star was very kind but very shy, she didn't talk to anyone if she didn't have to, she didn't leave engineering if she didn't have to. The young Twi'lek had no way of knowing it was for all those reasons that Six chose her to babysit. Plus, Engineering was the one place that Six almost never went, so there was little chance that he would bump into Rune unexpectedly and have to endure that look of utter terror in her eyes again.

Star would never overwhelm the Jedi, but would let her find her feet at her own pace. It wasn't a factor at all that Star was very grateful to Six for saving her from an Imperial chain gang where she would most certainly have died. And maybe, just maybe she would tell Rune what a great guy he was. Huh.

**Glory**

Lieutenant Mattesta was bursting with excitement as he left the hospital and boarded his shuttle for the jump back to base. Not only was today the day that he and Deckard officially received their promotions, he had made the most incredible discovery of his career so far.

Mattesta's droid programmed the jump and moved them into hyperspace without him even noticing. He was far too busy rehearsing what he was going to say to Lockee so as to achieve maximum impact. Too wired to relax even for a few minutes, the moment the shuttle touched down he was out and striding away before the ramp had fully settled on the floor. As he walked he comlinked the Admiral's adjutant. 'I need to speak to the Admiral straight away.'

The old man didn't sound impressed. 'He is free at sixteen hundred hours'.

'He needs to be free right now. I will fetch him myself if I have to' Mattesta spared himself a moment to marvel at what a power trip the day had been.

'Well I will ask him, but –'

'Don't ask him: TELL him. Tell him there have been….unforeseen….developments. I will meet him in his office'.

Lockee appeared in his office, only moments after Mattesta arrived. The Admiral looked none too pleased at his Lieutenants impudence, but he paused when he saw Mattesta's face. The young man was bursting with excitement. 'Sit. And tell me everything.'

Mattesta, despite his fervent rehearsals on the shuttle, took a moment to collect himself. He still couldn't quite believe what he was about to say.

'There were prisoners on board that ship, Sir.'

'So?' The Admiral wondered if he had expected too much of the Lieutenant after all.

'Prisoners belonging to Lord Vader.'

'_What_?'

'They were to be collected by Moff Tarkin and transported to Lord Vader.'

For once Lockee looked like he had the wind taken out of his sails. His expression mirroring the incredulity still showing on Mattesta's.

'One is some kind of rare beast and one… one is a Jedi'

Lockee looked to be in shock, Mattesta could see the enormity of this information raging through his brain as he tried to martial his senses. 'We have to find the prisoners and get them back. Lieutenant, get on this immediately. If you need more people, get them. This is top priority'. The Admiral ran his hands through his thinning hair. 'Don't fail me in this. Do what ever you have to do. Do you realise what this means? For us?'

Mattesta nodded. Glory beyond his wildest dreams. That's what this meant.

Thank you so much for reading this story, this chapter is dedicated to May the Forth! May the Force be with you!

Next week - Star tries to look after the Jedi girl and Deckard has a day of highs and lows.


	7. Chapter 7

**Shadows**

All too soon Star reached the Med Bay, despite the deliberate slowness of her steps. The door was open. For a second she thought the girl was speaking to a shadowy figure, then she blinked and saw nothing.

'Hey, I'm Star, that is I'm Anastari, but everyone calls me Star' she announced from the doorway. The girl looked at her warily but said nothing.

'I'm the ships engineer...Six sent me. He wants you to come with me, I'm to look after you, show you around and - er – stuff'.

The girl seemed to spend a moment thinking this over and then very slowly struggled to the edge of the bed, got unsteadily to her feet, and stood swaying alarmingly.

Star wasn't quite able to stop herself taking an anxious step back. She smiled tentatively and tried again to make contact. ' You ok? Are you in pain?'

The girl had gone an odd grey colour that Star was fairly sure wasn't healthy for a human, and then nodded without volunteering whether she was o.k. or was in pain. A stumble accompanied by a sharp intake of breath and a pause showed Star that it was the latter.

'Should I get Inez? Our medic?' Maybe this wasn't a good idea, maybe the girl should just stay put for now? The girl though, gave a single shake of her head, followed by a wince, as if even that movement had caused her pain. She swayed again.

Compassion overcame her nerves and with a deep breath Star entered the room and with great presence of mind, or so she congratulated herself later, grabbed the pillow and blanket. 'We're gonna need these.'

Then she gently took Rune by the arm and encouraged her forward. Rune took a step and her knees gave way, forcing Star to hold her up - a surprisingly easy task. She seemed to weigh almost nothing, even for Star who was quite petite herself.

Once Rune had managed to gain some small amount of control over her legs, Star guided her slowly out of the little med bay and along the corridor toward the suddenly very distant haven of engineering.

It was a small ship and the crew quarters were already overcrowded, but as soon as she came on board, Star had made her home down in the bowels of the Kraken, where she could hear the comforting thrum of her engines all around her. It was indeed a perfect place for Rune to heal in peace. But right now, Stars little nest had never seemed so far away, for each slow step that the sick girl took seemed to be an agony.

By the time they reached Star's tiny space the girl was exhausted, her breathing laboured and beads of sweat glistened on her brow. Star had planned a brief 'welcome to engineering and don't do this, this is mine, and don't go there' kind of speech in her head but she abandoned this to drape the blanket and pillow on the couch and help the girl lie down. She passed out immediately. Resigned to two sojourns out of engineering in the space of one hour Star went to find Inez.

'Is she supposed to pass out? Why is she in so much pain? Are you sure she's ready to leave med bay?'

Inez sighed, she thought Six might have given Star at least some idea of what he had volunteered her for. 'She has been in a cell for maybe 8 years. She hasn't been able to walk much or exercise and she has been tortured. She has a lot - _a lot_ \- of injuries, but none are life-threatening any more, just very very painful. The best way for her to heal now is to start to move those atrophied muscles, and to eat - build up her strength. But now she is conscious she refuses to take pain killers, so the process is going to be a lot more painful that it needs to be. Six thinks she wants to meditate. I don't know about Jedi magic... but Six does and he says it is the fastest way to heal a Jedi after a bacta tank - but only if she can connect to the force. And he thinks she is having trouble doing that'.

'The Force? what's that? Like the Holonet'?

Inez laughed. 'No, it's the Jedi magic, like a force... field I think, have you never heard stories of the Jedi'? She realised belatedly she was scrambling for an explanation she didn't really have herself.

Star shrugged she hadn't been big on stories as a child. She liked taking things apart and they trying to put them back together, and as she got older, making them better.

'Well anyway it's quieter down there with you. Six thinks it might help her to get to grips with this meditation thingy.'

Star raised an eyebrow.

'Let's face it, no one is ever going to get any peace up here with all those boys rampaging around are they?'

Star's eyebrow remained raised.

'Look let me get you a salve you can rub on her skin to ease the pain'.

_'I_ can rub'?

'Yes you, you big wampa, she won't explode if you touch her, just tell her its doctors orders'.

Star peered at the small pot that Inez held out to her. 'Honestly? I don't think that's going to be enough'.

Inez frowned, she had to agree. 'It's all I have. Let's hope Xinn makes enough money to get me my list of medical supplies'.

They exchanged glances. Star headed off with the salve and tried not to worry.

Inez watched her go and also tried not to worry.

Six had cornered Dan and Vail as soon as he returned to check their task had gone ok. He was half pleased and half disappointed that Rune had accepted _their_ ministrations without a qualm. Still it meant they could give the data to Xinn and she could get it straight back to Hiaru. Time was of the essence. He couldn't shake the feeling that he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

When she got back Rune was still unconscious. Star pondered what to do. If she needed to apply the salve wouldn't it be easier to do it while the patient was still asleep?

Where to start? she knelt gingerly by the side of her new bunk mate and tentatively touched her arm. No response. Then she cautiously rolled up the girl's sleeve, revealing a shockingly thin and shockingly bruised and scarred arm. The tiny little wrists were all scar tissue, from years of being cuffed, there were burns and bruises all the way up her arm. Star even searched for an _un_damaged part of her arm, but couldn't find any area unharmed with either old scar tissue or newer wounds and bruises. She replaced the sleeve. One small pot of salve just wasn't going to cut it, they needed a bacta tank. She didn't look any further, she just fetched her own blanket and laid that on top of the girl as well. Then she fetched a few small repairs she had lined up in her workshop so she could sit on her own bed to work and watch for the girl to wake up.

Dan and Vail were thrilled to be let off the ship and pretty much left to their own devices. They would follow Xinn and make sure she wasn't robbed or worse as Six has asked them to. But as far as they were concerned, it was so much the better if someone did try to attack the seemingly defenceless girl. They would wade in if they needed to, but unlike Six, the boys rather thought she could look after herself just fine. In contrast to the other females on the crew Xinn was tall, and she was used to looking after herself. She might look willowy and delicate to the untrained eye, but she never ever backed down from a fight - that either of the boys had observed anyway - and never lost one either. If anyone attacked her the boys were looking forward to having ring side seats as the poor unfortunate got a good pummelling. It was more likely they would have to rescue her attacker than Xinn.

Once she had dropped off the bag with one of Hiaru's staff, they observed Xinn head back out into the bustling market. This was the time she might start trying to get rid of all her tails and sure enough, they had to work extra hard to keep her in sight. She was a wily one alright. They were hard pressed and they were expecting her to change into the garb of her alter-ego, a well-to-do lady. The tricks and turns she threw to get everyone else off her tail were impressive.

Xinn for her part, had quite enjoyed keeping the boys on their toes. They were good, but she could have got rid of them any time she liked. Right now, though, it was important not to cause any trouble and to hide at least a few of her lights under a bushel/Devaronian sand thistle.

Back on board the Kraken, Six listened to his Second quietly as she ranted. When she paused for breath, he interjected hurriedly. 'Xinn did great, we won't have to eat into the money from the star ship parts at all to buy Runes ID, so we do have _some_ credits, enough to live on for at least one mission, maybe two. But Inez, I am not planning to take her off this ship anywhere that has an imp presence. We cannot risk it until Rune has put on some weight and doesn't look like... that… anymore'.

'Well she isn't going to get better as fast as she could until we can get her some medical help. I don't have anything on board. There must be someone who will let us use their bacta tank'.

'No one who I would trust to see her Inez, you must see that it would put the whole crew in danger, not to mention her. We cannot let her be recaptured - that would kill her for sure. With some peace and quiet she will reconnect with the force and then she will heal. Trust me she needs to heal mentally before anything else. After eight years she will know how to manage the pain'.

Inez scowled but couldn't argue with the logic. She might not know much about Jedi, but she knew enough to know that if the Empire even suspected they had her they would hound them from one end of the galaxy to the other to get her back. 'Well you'd better hope Xinn manages to get everything on my list…..'

Six nodded. In his experience it was usually best to let the women on this ship have the final say in any argument if you wanted it to end while you still had the will to live.

Xinn had had an incredibly successful shopping trip. She had been looking forward to proving to the rest of the crew that she was far more than just a co-pilot, and she used her negotiating skills and somewhat forceful personality to full effect. She had been a very successful street rat in her day, and it felt good to have credits in her pocket again - even if they weren't hers. For now. One day she knew she would have wealth again.

So she had haggled and bargained like crazy until she managed to get all the little items that the crew wanted - from deodorant to underpants. She had managed to get the medical items for Inez, and even the maintenance items that Star wanted by shopping second hand for some of the equipment. Her final triumph made the whole crew laugh as she told her tale over dinner that night.

Xinn explained that at the last moment Inez had requested some material, the softest that could be found in the city. Xinn had hunted around but none of the market traders had anything that wasn't rough, sand proof and durable. She was finally directed by an amused stall holder to a little shop tucked away down a side street. She had been wary of some kind of trap, having never heard of any such shop here before (though to be fair she had never _looked_ for a fabric seller before either). Sure enough, tucked away she found a little specialist materials store. She had entered cautiously and made her request, and to her astonishment the shop-keeper didn't shake his head and send her on her way. Instead he fetched a ladder and started rummaging on the highest shelf at the back of the store in a frenzy of industry. Eventually he emerged triumphantly, if somewhat dustily, proffering a fluffy roll of cloth in truly hideous rainbow colours. Xinn, who was too stunned to say anything having never seen such bright colours in her life, and merely looked at him open-mouthed. Until the shopkeeper named an outrageous figure. At which point she burst out laughing, until she had to wipe away the tears running down her face into her mask.

Shouldn't you be paying me to take it away? she howled, removing her mask so she could mop her face more effectively. She named an equally ridiculously low price for the whole roll. To her further astonishment the shop keeper shouted 'done' and shook her hand on the spot.

Xinn glanced around the table at her rapt audience and then with a flourish, produced from the carry bag she had hidden under the table, the most hideous looking fabric any of the crew had ever seen. It was not an exaggeration to say that they physically recoiled from it.

Xinn giggled (Dan and Vail nearly fell out of their chairs – Xinn could _giggle_?) and handed the lurid roll over to Inez with exaggerated pomp and ceremony.

Inez grinned at the crews bewildered expression. It was her turn to pick up the tale. 'I had this great idea - we should all wear matching jumpsuits of the same colours to show we are one team - I will be taking everyone's measurements straight after dinner'.

There was several seconds of terrified silence until Inez gave a great shout of laughter and rolled round in her chair clutching her sides. 'It's not for us you mynocks, and I grant you I wasn't expecting such an – er - proliferation of colour, it's for _Rune_. Her skin is so sore I wanted to give her some soft clothes to wear. Fortunately, I don't think she cares what she is wearing so much as it doesn't hurt her. Thank's Xinn you did a great job. This is so soft' – she rubbed it dreamily against her cheek 'it's perfect'.

The crew looked relieved but still slightly sickened. Inez made a great show of examining the roll, she was having too much fun to end it there. 'There is so much fabric here that I can make her some jumpsuits and still have enough left for everyone else!'

Out of the corner of her eye Inez saw Dan, Vail and Kehl shift in their seats, preparing to bolt from the table at any sign of measurement taking, but Star leant forward suddenly excited: 'could I really have a jump suit made from this? One that I could sleep in?'

The little Twi'lek reached out a tentative hand and stroked the fabric longingly. 'I've never felt anything so soft.'

Inez smiled. 'You know what, you can - and I'm going to make one for me too. That way Rune won't feel like the odd one out'.

'Oh well in that case I will have one too' said Xinn and Kit in unison. The four older men remained mute, their lips firmly sealed in terror. Inez winked at Kehl and he flinched.

'Well, I er have something I need to check in the cockpit, he announced with unusual vigour. 'Good night ladies, gents' Kehl shot off at high speed. Six and the boys leapt to their feet, suddenly conscious that there was safety in numbers. They departed hurriedly after the pilot muttering that they should probably see to that – whatever it was - as well. Not one of the three could actually pilot, so it was difficult to speculate what it could be they needed to help Kehl with.

Inez grinned. It had been a good, family meal. She focused her attention on those members remaining. 'Well folks, I will start on the suits tonight, but first – who wants a cup of tea and a fresh made biscuit?'

Silly question.

**A Room with a View**

Deckard was having a great time. This afternoon she was to be officially promoted at a little ceremony presided over by Lockee. Sub-Lieutenant Deckard – it had a great ring to it.

And in the mean-time soon-to-be Lieutenant Commander Mattesta had set her up in their own spacious office. Better still he had given her unlimited budget to order all the equipment she needed. She had already ordered the highest spec computers and data pads available. More importantly she had ordered the highest spec coffee unit available. That had gone on high priority delivery and had arrived a few minutes ago. Now she was holding her first cup of decent coffee in years. The hot steam wafted over her face, it smelt delicious. She would never have to endure the swill from the kitchenette again.

She took a sip and looked around the room one more time, satisfied with her efforts. The room was all grey, she had removed the pieces of spurious art work hanging on the walls and shoved both prints in the trash compactor. This was a serious place of work. That said, the one aspect of the room that pleased her the most was the far end which had a long internal window. The view made her heart sing, it overlooked the team of analysts, all slaving away. She had made sure all the metal blinds were open so that she was in full view of her former colleagues, and she had carefully positioned her desk to give her an especially good view of Tahndi - and he of her. By the end of the day, she would outrank him. She took a moment to enjoy the warm glow that gave her.

She had equally carefully positioned Mattesta's desk so that he couldn't see the other analysts and they couldn't catch his attention. Just to be on the safe side. She didn't want any more instant promotions being dolled out.

She had ordered a round table and matching chairs and set them up to one side of the room. They would be more comfortable for impromptu meetings, than sitting at their desks. She could have ordered a rectangular table of course, but she didn't want to give Mattesta too much opportunity to lord it over her.

There was plenty of room for more desks, should they ever need assistance, but right now it was just the two of them. She hoped he would hurry back, she was eager to start. She wondered fleetingly if Mattesta was the kind of guy who went for small talk during the course of a working day. She sure hoped not. Chit chat was for the herds of numbskulls she had been surrounded by before. She was going to be ranked at last, and she didn't intend to waste any time at all in securing her next promotion.

Still, there wasn't much more to do right now. She amused herself by sitting at her desk, sipping coffee and accessing the file archive on screen. Tahndi thought he was so clever limiting her access to the work that was going on. What he never figured out was that she had always had full access to the archive. That meant that as soon as a piece of work was tagged complete she could access it. She found Petrosks case file, for no particular reason that she cared to acknowledge, and started to read through some of his reports.

She was onto his third case when she heard the doors swish open and Mattesta barrelled in. To her astonishment he looked…. excited? In her experience he was either cold and emotionless or very angry. This aspect of him was new to her. She grabbed her datapad and ushered him to the chairs and tables even as words started to spill out of his mouth.

'Deckard, we're on to something amazing. I hope you don't have plans. The Admiral from the Vortex has given me a list of items – I'm transferring the files to you now. But, there's more. We have to hunt them down. We have-

'-Sir, woah, take a breath.' Deckard pressed him into the chair. 'Let me get you a drink and then you can tell me'

She made him a decaf coffee – he was excited enough without adding stimulants into the mix - with an air of calmness that she wasn't feeling. What was he going to tell her that was better than their upcoming promotion ceremony?

The moment she was sat down, he launched back into his story. 'The Admiral told me he didn't just have valuables on board, he had prisoners. Prisoners belonging to Lord Vader.'

Deckard felt all the air leave her lungs. Lord _Vader_? What the Jawa's teeth had she got herself into? She knew only to well what happened to people who displeased that monster.

'Gosh'

'Gosh? Is that all you have to say? GOSH?' yelled Mattesta rising to his feet once again.

Deckard thought fast, keeping her eyes down and fixed to her datapad so he couldn't read her expression. 'I have your file now. Let me get to work, I can quickly set up a search - if two or more of these items have been put up for sale recently by the same vendor - that would be a strong lead. It shouldn't take long to set up the variants. But tell me, do you know who the prisoners are?'

The Lieutenant seemed mollified by her business-like tone and sat back down slowly. 'No. But apparently there are some details in the Admirals private logs about one of them'.

'Well if they're valuable we may even see the prisoners themselves up for sale soon. Why don't you check out his logs on the black box see what you can find out? I never needed to review them because there would be nothing referring to the attack recorded. But now, they might have atleast enough information to give me some search terms. It might be an idea to hold off on the Admirals execution if it's not too late – we may need to go back and question him further' added Deckard her mind already racing ahead to the best way to set up the most effective and methodical search.

Mattesta narrowed his eyes for a moment as he reviewed Deckard's little speech. He didn't appreciate being told what to do by a sub-ordinate, but on the other hand she didn't appear to be deliberately insulting him, just eager to set to. Already she was rapidly keying in search terms, and besides, it did make sense for him to go through the Admirals private logs – he had the higher security clearance after all. But her final statement was the one that intrigued him the most. Why did she assume as a matter of course the Admiral would be executed? He didn't even know that for sure himself, it was pure speculation on his part. He hadn't actually seen an execution order. Slowly he offered: 'The Admiral claims he didn't give the abandon ship order, he was knocked unconscious - it was his Second that did it.'

Deckard shrugged, 'Easy enough to check on the black box. That would be enough to get the order lifted I guess'.

Mattesta considered –it seemed to him that Deckard was no ordinary analyst, but just how far was this woman prepared to go? Maybe he should do some preliminary tests…..feel out what her boundaries were.

'But bear in mind, if he lives we have to share the glory with him when we find the prisoners.' There, he had said it. He watched her face closely for horror at his words. He found none. Instead she said briskly: 'You're right. Perhaps we don't need him after all.'

Mattesta smiled evilly, Deckard was going to work out just fine.

Deckard was no fool. She knew when she was being tested and she knew she had passed. But where he thought she was thinking of personal gain, her line of reasoning was only that the less they knew, maybe – just maybe - the less Vader would hold them responsible for if they weren't able to recover the prisoners. He would be far more likely to murder someone higher up the chain in her experience – hopefully Lockee. That could lead to another instant promotion and she was all for that.

She refilled her coffee and sat at her desk. Then she took a moment to get up and close the blinds. She didn't feel like gloating any more. Suddenly the stakes were so much higher, frighteningly so. It was not just her next promotion at stake any more, this comfortable, low-risk job as an analyst had turned into something highly dangerous and it was her own fault for showing off. She was determined to engineer a successful outcome for herself, but if Vader was involved their lives were at risk. Mattesta was an innocent or a fool if he thought otherwise.

**The View from the Bridge**

Lockee had had to take quite a few minutes after his interview with his Lieutenant to get his thoughts in order. He had been trying for some time to get into the Emperors inner circle. Despite all the good work his team had done rooting out opponents of the new regime, none of it had ever been quite high profile enough to get the attention of the real movers and shakers in Palpatine's court. And now, finally, he had a reason to make contact with the Emperors right hand. Finally he could get the attention he deserved.

He had been part of the Empire from the beginning, having been recruited into the clone army to bring some strategic specialism in from the outside. He knew how things worked. But Vader was an unknown quantity and he didn't like that. Vader didn't follow any rules, he didn't adhere to any of the imperial chains of command, he operated outside of any authority, answering only to Palpatine. That made him a dangerous enigma.

How to get the glory without the danger? That was the question. How to get that foot in the door without losing his head. Lockee was in a position to hear of a great many imperial officers who had displeased Vader and not lived to tell the tale. He couldn't let that happen to him.

But he had to act fast. He needed to make contact before anyone else got wind of this – there were other teams working the Crimson Dawn attack after all. That was an outfit that would soon be eradicated by the might of the Empire. Maybe just a short message to say that reports indicated a possible Jedi in the area? No, he didn't want to risk one of those creepy inquisitors turning up. No it would have to be Jedi and Defel. It was the only way to be sure of hooking in the Sith Lord himself.

Next Chapter: the net starts closing in on the crew of the Kraken….

Please do leave a review if you have time. As a fellow writer and star wars lover, I really appreciate your feedback


	8. Chapter 8

**Waiting**

The ID papers were not ready for 48 hours, so for the crew of the Kraken, the day was going to be a long one. Nothing much to do except wait.

Apart from Kit. He of course, was under strict orders to keep searching. He had breakfasted slowly and then ambled up to his customary spot in the antechamber, a place where he had a clear line of sight into the cockpit, and set his searches going. Kehl and the boys had gone to a bar somewhere to have their breakfast and kill some time, so there was no one around to torment him about his favourite pastime. Or 'Mooning after Xinn' as they so elegantly phrased it.

Inez was off making the days damper in the kitchenette, Star would be tinkering with the engine as usual. Even Xinn herself ignored him as she strode past to run some diagnostics in the cockpit.

He wished he would fill out and look a bit more…. manly. He just looked like a skinny kid, even in his own eyes. He was sixteen for crying out loud. Surely he should be broader by now? He tried not to think about Dan and Vail. Perfect specimens of manhood. Tall, broad, handsome….. How would a beautiful girl like Xinn ever look at him while those two were around?

He morosely stabbed at his datapad trying out different search criteria in between gazing at the object of his dreams and listening out for Six.

For Six was pacing through the ship on a route that brought him past Kit with frustrating regularity. Just as he heard Six' steps getting closer for about the seventeenth time that morning, he got a ping on one of his searches. He honed in on the results while a boulder began to form in his stomach.

Sure enough, someone out there was looking for some of the things they had 'liberated'. He tapped a few keys, feeling the fear rising inexorably up his throat. The unknown entity was looking for different combinations of specific items. Nearly all those specific items were things they had taken from the Vortex.

Intriguingly, not every item. Some things they had obviously missed in the rush – drat, had they really missed one of _those_?

Kit refocused. This was serious. There was no doubt that someone who knew what items had been on the Vortex had started to look for them. There were too many of the items for it to be coincidence – and it was a methodical search. The kind of strategic search that you would expect from an imp.

Kit swallowed, his mouth dry. This was really really not good.

'Hey, any news?'

Six was already moving on, expecting a version of the same terse response he had been getting all morning. When it didn't come, it took a second to sink in.

He swivelled on his heel and fixed Kit with the look.

'What? What is it Kit? What have you found?'

Kit's stomach roiled. Despite all his internal moaning, Six had been right to keep him searching after all. 'I, I've found… well, someone's hunting…for the things from the Vortex….'

'Imps?'

Kit nodded. 'I can't say for sure, but I think so. It's a very thorough search, I'll try and trace it back, but…'

'But you are already sure'

Kit nodded again.

'So what does this mean – for us'

'Well' the kid thought fast. 'Someone out there has decided to search. I suppose if you think about it – the cargo was incredibly valuable – a Jedi. I guess they have to do some due diligence. Make sure she really did die in the explosion. They might not be suspicious anyone's been on board, they might just wanna make sure she didn't escape in the chaos. I dunno, with power fluctuating maybe they realised she could have got out of her cell on her own.

Or more likely they wonder if one of the officers on board could've stolen her – a lot of pods got blown up by the 'Dawn and they aren't _that_ reliable in hyperspace, maybe they're realising some crew-members are unaccounted for. She has a lot of value, someone on board could have smuggled her out and ransacked some of the valuables to pay their way till they make the sale?'

Six ran his fingers through his hair. 'Could they have found out about us from the black box?'

'No, I wiped all the video imaging – made it look like system failure straight after they took the hit. Look, boss, we can't know why they have suddenly started searching. What they're doing is logical enough though. They are looking for items from the Vortex, not for a ship – they don't know we were there'

Besides, I don't think we need to panic just yet - I've been keeping a look out for the items we handed over yesterday. They haven't been posted yet. By my reckoning, two, no three, of the imp searches will ping if the dealer puts everything we gave him up for sale on the holonet. Then we're in trouble. But those items were the lower value stuff, he might not post them at all, just keep to sell-on here in the city.

He will definitely post the most expensive items to get the best prices though. But he's not getting them til tomorrow when he hands the papers over, so by the time he does that we'll already be leaving. And once we've left there is no way for them to ever track us down.

'Yeah' muttered Six. 'Same as we thought there was no reason for the imps to start searching for Rune. Your perspective changes when you find out you are wrong'.

Kit bit his lip. 'Yeah….' He kept his head down and kept monitoring.

It was mid-morning before Rune stirred. She had slept right through last night's dinner, and all through the night. Star had got up and breakfasted, and still nothing. She even spent an hour or so pottering and repairing bits and pieces of equipment sat on her bed so she could be there when Rune awoke. Just as she was beginning to wonder if this was normal for a human (who wasn't a teenage boy ie Kit, who could sleep longer than anyone else Star knew) and if she should fetch Inez, she heard the girl shift under the blankets.

'Rune?'

The girl cringed away from Star in fear, raising her hands as if to shield herself from a blow. After a moment her eyes focused on Star and an unreadable expression flitted across her face to be replaced by a wary curiosity.

'You hungry?'

Rune nodded warily and winced.

Star told her to wait there, and skipped up to the galley, returning within a few minutes. 'Inez, that's our doc, says you must eat this broth. Its restorative. You want me to feed you?'

Rune shook her head very slowly and carefully like it hurt to move. Star handed her the mug. Rune had to hold it in both hands to steady it and Star didn't let go until she had it firmly gripped.

The girl took a tiny sip and then another, then to Stars relief began to drink eagerly, not stopping until it was all gone. Her expression asked for more, but Star firmly took the mug and told her to rest. The girl was shaking from the effort.

You can have some more later. We really need to think about a shower and some clean clothes. The girl lay back down and clutched the blankets protectively around herself. She didn't appear to agree with this sentiment. She was asleep again in seconds. Star judged, correctly, that she wouldn't be waking up for a couple of hours and took the opportunity to go and do some tinkering with the hyperdrive engines while they weren't in use.

At lunch, Inez appeared on cue with her broth and for the first time Rune struggled into a sitting position without being asked or assisted. Inez seemed to take this as a good sign and produced a small morsel of the fresh made damper bread from her pocket. It was gratifying to see the way the girl, hesitant at first, bit off a chunk and then sat chewing with her eyes shut, an expression of bliss on her face. It wasn't long before broth and bread were gone, and instead of lying straight back down she propped herself up and looked around.

Star was relieved to see she was less shaky and decided today _was_ the day to take Rune to the turboshower.

She was used to scrubbing her younger siblings under extreme protest and had no qualms about stripping the girl off. Rune didn't react to this treatment, but stood dully, almost oblivious of her surroundings. Star wondered at this, she had expected some protest at least, until she saw that Runes legs and body were as bad, if not worse than her arms. Maybe she was so used to being made to do as she was told and being punished if she didn't, that this was a walk in the park. Stars stomach turned at the sight of so much dried blood, scabbing and dirt, but she grit her teeth and helped the girl into the cubicle. The water recycler was going to have a beano trying to filter the run off from this shower.

Taking a breath Star scrubbed Rune as gently as she could to get her clean. Her hair was a matted clump, and even attempting to comb it through with cleanser made her cry out in pain. In frustration Star produced her blade and cut it off. The girl didn't react even to this treatment, her appearance was clearly not something she had had the luxury of paying any attention to. Once she started cutting she ended up slicing it almost all off it was so knotted, until there was just an uneven stubble left. Then Star could see scars and bald patches where clumps of hair had been ripped out and were slowly growing back or scabbed over. No wonder combing had been so painful.

She washed the girls remaining hair, such as it was, even more gently, though inside she wanted to hit someone with her largest hydrospanner. No one should have suffered the way this tiny creature had at the hands of the Empire. It was one more reason to hate them.

By the time Rune was clean and dry Inez appeared grinning broadly and brandishing the first hideous but incredibly soft sleep suit. She must have been working like crazy to have got it done, but Star thought it was wonderful. By the time they got Rune into it she was too weak to walk back to her make shift bed. Star braced herself and picked the girl up, expecting to struggle to carry her. To her dismay the Jedi weighed less than some of the engine parts Star lugged around without a second thought.

She carried her back easily and it was no surprise when the girl fell asleep in her arms. She looked warm and comfortable in her new clothing. Star laid her down gently and dug out the small pot of salve. Now the girl was clean she knew exactly where the deepest of the cuts and scrapes were.

Inez helped her apply the salve and then when the pot was empty the pair of them went to have an afternoon cup of tea and some biscuits. They already had it figured that Rune wouldn't wake up for an hour or two.

When Star first joined the crew, she could happily have spent all day every day down in engineering, rarely seeing anyone. Inez though, had insisted that Star spend at least one hour per day in the upper decks socialising, and dinner as well - that was her daily minimum requirement. It had taken a while, but now she found she quite looked forward to that time with her new family, even if she was quite relieved to get back to her haven afterwards.

Right now, she was glad to go up and have some time with Six, Kit, Xinn and Inez, and not think about the tiny damaged creature and what she must have gone through at the hands of the regime that Star hated above all else. Some lively conversation over some of Inez' hot tea was a good way to distract herself and to pass the time, while they waited and waited for the day to end.

Six was pacing up and down wracking his brains for a reason to go and see Rune. He had been putting the visit off all day, while he worried about the imps, but he had spotted Inez bustling about in the kitchenette and had allowed himself to be distracted. Inez had been updating him on how transformed the Jedi now looked: clean for a start, and the short spiky hair and increasingly alert expression made a huge difference. She was eating a little solid food with her broth and had managed to walk a few steps around engineering on her own.

'Hmm, well that's good.' He agreed but couldn't help blurting out what was really on his mind. 'We need to get out of here the microsecond that ID is ready tomorrow.'

Inez nodded seriously. 'Good, we can't stay here for ever, we have a job to do - and the team are getting restless.'

'Yeah, but it's not that, the imps are searching.'

Inez paled. _'What_? I thought 'no one would be looking''

'No reason to think they are suspicious yet, Kit thinks they are just carrying out standard checks. But if Hairu posts those items we have already given him onto the holonet the imps will know immediately – we might have to leave without the ID'.

'We can't do that! We can't _afford_ to do that! We will never be able to afford a second set'

'I know, I know - but what can we do? If we ask Hairu to rush: the price goes right up, and he will be suspicious. Would he rat us out to the imps? Who knows? He does so much dodgy stuff it would be a high risk strategy, but there's a lot of money being offered for the items'.

'So what do we do then?'

'I don't know. I have told the guys to keep close in case we have to emergency evacuate, and they will be back soon anyway. But all we can do is hang tight and hope Hairu doesn't post those items.

'It doesn't seem like much of a plan' snapped Inez swapping the mild Naboo tea leaves for some stronger Ithorian leaves and shovelling them into her pot viciously. This should keep everyone awake all night.

Six looked at her helplessly. 'There is nothing we can do, except wait, and go knocking on Hairu's door first thing in the morning – if we make it through the night.'

'Everything ok?' asked Star anxiously from the doorway. She could sense the tension. Her head tails were writhing, indicating her unease.

Inez smoothly handed her a tray of warm biscuits. 'Take that to the mess and shout Kit and Xinn will you hon? She glanced at Six who was taking the opportunity to make his exit. Discussion over. Worry just beginning. Again.

Some how they got through the night without being discovered and without killing each other. But the tension on the ship was palpable while they waited for Xinn and Six to return from the exchange with Hiaru the next morning.

Kehl was in the cockpit warming up the engines and snapping at anyone who came near. The brothers had long since retired to their make-shift gym in the hold and were working out like mad, possibly to make up for the huge amount of Tatooine Sunrise cocktails they had consumed the day before.

Kit was still running his searches. Inez had been keeping him in tea all night but she was worried he was starting to hallucinate he was so tired.

As soon as Six com-linked to say they had the ID and were on their way back, she allowed herself to relax just a little. Surely, now they were safe.

She felt compelled to check everyone was present and correct, and found her feet leading her down to engineering, and maybe slowing down just a tad as she wandered past the viewing window into the hold. The boys were there as expected and Dan threw her a wave. She managed a smile and a nod and moved on.

As she entered engineering, she quickly determined that the little Twi'Lek was explaining to Rune the inner workings of the air recycler. The poor invalid was either too polite or too poorly to escape, but her vacant gaze told its own story. Inez thought she looked like she might go mad from boredom at any moment, and after 8 years in solitary confinement, that was quite an accomplishment. She decided to take action.

'Come on Rune, this looks – er- complicated, we should leave Star to concentrate. Come and keep me company in the cockpit while we wait to take off. I can show you how the scanner array works.'

Star looked startled but didn't protest, and Inez realised belatedly that there probably wasn't much more of interest in electronics than mechanics for the Jedi. Rune certainly didn't look thrilled at the idea of spending time in the main part of the ship, but she stood obediently, mainly because many more minutes of engineering talk would probably put her back into a coma.

She found a precarious balance and slowly limped after the tiny woman. Walking was getting easier, but she still had a lot of work to do to strengthen her atrophied muscles.

As they made their slow way, a clamour at the landing ramp announced the arrival of Xinn and Six. Inez let out a sigh of relief. They were back, they were safe, they could leave at last.

She heard Six yell: 'Kehl, punch it' and the ramp closing, and the next moment she felt the familiar tilt as the ship smoothly launched itself upwards as they left the hangar bay and joined the queues of vessels leaving the planet.

She longed to be up there, scanning for trouble and watching the planet dropping away beneath them, but she bit her lip and carried slowly on to the cockpit with Rune. By the time the pair of them arrived, Xinn had already taken her place up front and was requesting a flight path as Kehl expertly kept the ship in their allocated flight path while bringing the ships systems on line ready for their jump at the same time. Neither of them acknowledged Inez or her charge, they just wanted to get off planet as fast as they could.

Inez ignored them both in turn and sat Rune in her seat so she could point out the controls for each scanner and how to activate them, how to actively and passively scan and understand the readings. The pair were so absorbed they barely noticed Six step into the cockpit and then, at the sight of Rune, reverse out and think of something else he urgently needed to do.

Inez helped the girl to start an active scan of their route out of the atmosphere, but somewhere during the instruction Runes attention faded. As they reached the outer atmosphere, Inez noticed that she was staring straight ahead, her bone thin fingers trembling over the control panel, her gaze on something in front of her that no one else could see.

Something terrible judging from her expression.

'Rune are you ok?'

The girl didn't respond, only her trembling increased. Inez looked around, not sure what to do.

Xinn was bringing the astrogation unit on line ready to programme it for the first leg of the jump to Homestead as soon as they hit space, Kehl was concentrating on manoeuvring past several slower ships as fast as he could while staying in lane, neither any help.'

'Six' Inez called and knew there was something seriously wrong when Rune didn't react to even the Commanders name.

Inez heard his heavy tread outside and was relieved he hadn't gone far away. But suddenly Rune came alive screaming as loudly as her seldom used voice would allow. 'Jump you have to jump we have to jump we have to go'

Her hoarse screams got her the attention of Kehl and Xinn, but they made no move to do as she said, merely stared at her as if she was mad.

'Jump please jump please' her tone turned pleading, a wail full of desperation and no less urgent.

'We can't hon, we haven't quite left the atmosphere yet' explained Xinn soothingly as if to an hysterical child.

'pleasejumppleasejumpplease' she looked like she was going to pass out from fear.

_'Jump'_ roared Six in the doorway. Kehl, who knew better than to ask questions, overrode Xinn and launched them into a micro jump to the other side of the system. It put a strain on the ship, and messing with hyperspace was never recommended unless you wanted to risk ending up buried in the middle of a star - but not reacting to a direct order from Six was recommended even less.

They re-emerged a fraction of a second later in the furthest reaches of the system and everyone looked around to see what the crazy girl was doing now.

Except for Inez: 'what the - '. The second in command was looking at her scanner read-out, her face white with shock. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. 'Bring us about Kehl and check out the view everyone.'

Silence fell over the cockpit as Kehl turned the Kraken one-eighty and everyone looked out at the planet they had just left behind them.

'Swamps of Dathomir' whispered Dan into the silence, he and his brother had appeared in the doorway, keen to find out what the sudden jump had been about.

In front of them was a host of Imperial Star Destroyers, including an Interdictor class. The gravity well it was now projecting toward the planet would stop every ship leaving the atmosphere from making a jump. If they had been one second later, they would have been trapped. And it would have been all over for them.

The massive war ships blocked out most of the view of the dusty planet, but several small explosions demonstrated how permanently the imps were dealing with any ships trying to leave the system.

Six realised he had stopped breathing. The thought of how close they had been to losing everything was almost too much to comprehend.

He dug his voice up from somewhere. 'Xinn get us out of here. Now. Before those Destroyers scan us'

'But how did she do that?' Everyone was thinking it, only Xinn had the guts to say it.

'Get us OUT of here' he roared.

Xinn bowed her head and got to work recalculating. But inside she was seething. All the good work she did with the negotiating could have just gone up in flames because of this pathetic little creature. To say she wasn't happy was an understatement.

Rune in the meantime was doing her best to stand. Inez hastened to help her as she stood, swaying dangerously. She clearly wanted to make a rapid exit but had to content herself with hobbling slowly and painfully out of the cockpit. The brothers parted to allow her through and Six hastily stepped back into the antechamber, giving her a clear line of sight out of the cramped cockpit. As he watched her shuffle out he wondered exactly what this meant for his crew and for the girl, and what should he do about it?

For her part, Inez supported Rune on her slow journey and wished the ground would open beneath her feet. Xinn's question had been valid. Most of the crew didn't know Rune was a Jedi. Inez had known and now she felt like they should have told everyone. But even knowing that Rune had been a Jedi, she still didn't know the answer to Xinns question.

They would have to tell the crew now – but then what? Would they want Rune to stay or go?

And now Rune had got her powers back would she want to stay or go? Only one thing was certain, this was going to change everything…..

As Rune and Inez finally shuffled out of view, Six made a decision. When Star appeared, curious as to why they had micro-jumped, he told her to wait in the cockpit. As soon as Xinn had made the jump into hyperspace he addressed the crew.

'I guess you are all now wondering who Rune is and how she just did what she did….According to the files from the Vortex she was a Jedi Padawan at the fall of the Republic'. He couldn't quite bring himself to say at the time of Order 66.

'She has been a prisoner of the Inquisitors for over 8 years and during that time they have tortured and abused her in their efforts to turn her to the dark side. They couldn't turn her and the records show that they were sending her to Lord Vader. They indicate she was to become his apprentice or die.

As those of you who have seen her will already know, she was half dead when we found her. And up until now she hasn't been able to use the force at all. She is healing and getting stronger though, and it seems like her abilities could finally be returning.

I hope it goes without saying it is our duty to protect her and keep her from falling back into the hands of the imps until she has healed. After that, well it is up to her whether she leaves, or I have offered her a position on the crew as I did for you all.

Questions? Thoughts?'

There was a silence, punctuated by a shrug from Kehl. That was his way of saying yes, fine, whatever.

Dan spoke for the brothers: 'Like you say, it's what we would do for anyone, I don't see why we should treat her differently.'

'I agree' said Xinn carefully. 'But a Jedi wanted by Lord Vader? That's a whole step up from 'wanted criminal. How do you plan to keep us safe? Did you see the firepower back there? If that's all for her then we are in big trouble'

'Sensible question Xinn, glad to see you are thinking logically as usual. We don't think the imps know who we are, they were chasing the items we stole. We don't have them any more so providing we jumped before they scanned us they have no way of tracking us. We need to be extra vigilant for a while, but we will carry on as usual. We are due a mission and that is what we need to concentrate on.'

Xinn breathed an internal sigh of relief. Six didn't seem cross with her, order seemed to be resumed. Still, she had a lot of thinking to do.

'If you have more questions you know my door is open. Carry on' Six turned on his heel and headed off to find Rune and Inez. He could hear Kehl demanding to know from someone – anyone - what the Jabba's butt a Jedi was, long before he was out of earshot.

He found Rune soon enough. She was in engineering, sat shaking under her blanket. Inez was sat on the edge of her bed patting her shoulder compassionately and trying to comfort her and find out if she was ok at the same time.

Six hovered in the doorway uneasily.

Inez was relieved to see him but quickly realised he had no more idea what to say to Rune that she did. She took the plunge. 'You saved us, how did you do it honey?'

`You used the force Rune – that's fan-'

'-No' Runes thin voice cut over Six, and even though it was quietly said it stopped him in his tracks.

'No...? But you had a vision? It must have been the force, what else could it have been?'

Rune swallowed a few times. 'That wasn't the force. I wasn't – connected – I can't. Connect. I know what it is to have a vision through the force. This wasn't it.

'But Rune-'

'I said No! Please' her voice softened a little. 'Believe me, as a Padawan, I could farsee – I know what that feels like. This was something else entirely. It wasn't under my control.

She paused and Inez and Six shared a glance – did they interrupt or wait? It was a relief when she picked up her thread again.

'I was just looking at the readout and then my vision started to…..cloud. It was like I could see into the secrets of the universe. I was looking down into a black swirling pool, and everything and everyone was in it all interconnected in time and space. I could see the planet, I could see us leaving, and I could see…..i could see those ships approaching in hyperspace. I could see what would happen when they arrived'

'Rune, I-'

-'It was the dark side. It sent me a vision...I wasn't using the force, I wasn't trying to see...it just came...I saw...'

'You saw the ships coming and emerging so close to the planet they inadvertently crushed the ships just leaving the outer edges of the atmosphere. We were right there and we would have been one of those destroyed' supplied Inez gently.

Rune nodded gratefully.

'But it's still the force' persisted Six. 'You can use it'

Rune shook her head. 'No, it was the dark side _using_ me'

'But the dark side would have wanted you to be captured surely – so you could complete your journey to Vader.'

'That maybe' interrupted Inez firmly. 'But the dark side must have known we would have been destroyed because we were right where the imp ships emerged from hyperspace. It might not have been what the imps intended, I am sure they didn't mean to get so close, but Rune would still be dead. It acted to save her.'

'I see…..' summarised Six thoughtfully. 'It saved her from death so it could make sure she would be alive to get to Vader.'

Inez nodded. She didn't know much about the Force; but calling a mystical energy 'It' sounded creepy when Six put it like that. She looked down at Rune. Just how much danger did this tiny girl represent? And what would 'it' do next to get her to the Sith Lord?

'She needs time to heal' said Inez firmly. 'Maybe the dark side could only do this because she is weak and vulnerable. We have to get her strong and able to communicate with her force. That might keep the dark side at bay.'

Rune looked up at this and there was a tiny glimmer of hope in her eyes. Inez could have laughed in despair. The poor girl thought she knew what she was talking about, when she was just making it up as she went.

'Let's get to Homestead and we can talk. Now go and be with the crew, they will need to see you looking unworried' With that Inez turned her back on Six and helped Rune to settle down, covering her with the blanket and holding her hand until she fell into a troubled sleep.

Six looked at the pair and then turned with heavy footsteps back to his crew. He would love to be able to feel unworried right now. What was that old Rodian curse? Ah yes: May you live in interesting times. He didn't need farseeing to know that their future was going to be 'interesting' indeed.

Coming Up: Mattesta is forced to make his report to Vader...


	9. Chapter 9

**Interesting Times**

Mattesta cast his mind back over the last 48 hours. To say things had not gone as planned was an understatement. What was that old curse about Interesting times?

First there was the realisation that in all the excitement Shadow hadn't reported in on schedule. His first thought had been that the agent was trying to escape them - having been rather noticeably reticent about what the crew was up to recently. With hindsight though, it was obvious there had been a change of direction given to the crew and possibly the operative hadn't been kept in the know. And the fact that the ship was acting in such an unpredictable manner meant it was quite possible their spy hadn't had a chance to report in since.

The annoying thing was, Shadow could tell them straight away if they had the prisoners or not. They wouldn't need to be doing these searches and wondering if the prisoners were dead or alive. No one had ever said the Shadow Dancer had definitely rescued the prisoners, but like a snowball gathering pace, everyone seemed to be operating on the assumption they had. Sure, it was exactly the kind of thing those do-gooder terrorists would do - but it had occurred to Mattesta that they could have raided the ship and left without ever finding any prisoners. They would have raided the personal quarters, hold and weapons stores on the ship – not the brig. Every time he had those thoughts he could feel the cold sweat bloom on his body. And he had been having those thoughts a lot.

He should have reported Shadow's lack of contact to Lockee by now. And he didn't know whether to raise it late or not at all. What if they didn't have the prisoners? What then?

Then Lockee had let slip that he had alerted Lord Vader to the fact that they were tracking a Defel and a Jedi. The Admiral was feeling somewhat disgruntled that even with such momentous news he still didn't seem able to get the attention of the Emperors right hand.

Mattesta had thought his heart would burst at that point. Lord Vader? He remembered Deckard's face when he had mentioned that name. What if there were no prisoners? What if they really had died in the explosion? They would all be murdered by the Sith Lord. As much as he wanted the glory, he had seen it written all over Deckard's face.

Just when he thought he couldn't take the stress any more, when he thought he was going to have a heart attack or shoot himself just to stop his heart pounding so loudly with terror that he couldn't hear himself think any more, Deckard had had a contact from a dealer on Tatooine.

Someone had agreed to sell this lowlife all those items in the searches. In return for a hefty reward he was willing to let them know who it was.

Tatooine! Lockee had two teams of agents permanently placed on the planet. It was the work of only a few minutes to send a team to the Dealer to find out what he knew and set another team on finding the Shadow Dancer. Atleast that might let him off the hook with Shadow a bit. He just needed to know one way or another – _were the prisoners alive?_

It hadn't been long before the first team reported in. They had just missed the crew from the Shadow Dancer making the exchange, but with a certain amount of coercion the dealer had told them the crew had mentioned they were using the money to buy id. _Surely_, that must mean they had the prisoners?

Mattesta had headed to Lockee's office to make his report in person. It was at that moment things had gone even more horrendously wrong.

Out of the blue Vader had messaged Lockee direct. His hologram seemed to tower ominously over the short and round Admiral.

Mattesta had been forced to give his update in front of the Sith Lord. He made sure to only say that it was likely the crew had the prisoners, he wanted to be clear no one was giving any guarantees. But he might as well have not bothered. Vader overrode him.

Your team will capture that ship immediately and return my prisoners to me.

'But my Lord' Interjected Lockee urgently. 'I don't have enough agents to capture them, and besides we are using the ship to hunt down the individual orchestrating these cells of resistance springing up around the galaxy. We nearly have them. Our agent has twice managed to track an outgoing message. One more and we can triangulate. At worst if a viable location isn't revealed we know the contact is on a ship, at best we can track the contact to a planet. If we capture this ship our best chance to pick up on the mastermind of this terrorism will be gone.

Nonsense Lockee, this rebellion will amount to nothing, nothing our troops can't handle. Little outfits like this have risen up before and we have crushed them. This one will be no different, it may just take you a little longer.

If you don't have the manpower in place I will send Fleet Admiral Tymbala's fleet to Tatooine to capture them. They are very close by and have an Interdictor with them. Send the details to Tymbala now Admiral. I want my prisoners delivered to me with no further delay. You have done well to find them, do not test my patience any further.

Mattesta had reluctantly sent over the details of the Shadow Dancer, and Tymbala's fleet had hurriedly made their calculations and jumped into hyperspace.

Lockee's second team on Tatooine had located the Shadow Dancer just as it was leaving the planet. They were able to monitor the ship's progress through the outer atmosphere and were watching as it left the gravity of the planet just as Tymbala's fleet emerged from hyperspace. The agent reported solemnly that in his opinion the fleet emerged far too close to the planet and the terrorist ship wouldn't have had time to make its calculations so was most likely destroyed along with several other ships that had just left the atmosphere at that time.

So in summary then, they had absolutely nothing to show Vader and it was Tymbala's fault. But it was hardly politic for Lockee to blame Tymbala outright in front of Vader. And Vader was expecting a successful report from his two Admirals right now. Hesitantly Lockee joined the holo-conference, Mattesta at his side. They both tried to look calm and in control while inside they knew this was going to be a very crucial few minutes for their life expectancy.

Lockee took the initiative. This was the time to show that he could play in the big league. To see if he had the wits to survive with all the other sharks in the top pool.

'Lord Vader, Fleet Admiral Tymbala' he nodded respectfully to them both but didn't give either a moment to interrupt him. 'Fleet Admiral, congratulations, do you have our ship? Do you have Lord Vaders prisoners?' he gave his sweetest smile. It made Mattesta's stomach churn, but he maintained an air of keen interest.

'On the contrary, Admiral Lockee there was no sign of the Shadow Dancer according to the details that you gave us' Ah, so that was the tack Tymbala was going to take? Lockee looked calmly at his Second.

'Mattesta, I believe you have a report from our agent on the surface?'

'That is correct Admiral. According to our second team, they were able to track the Shadow Dancer along its flight path, it was between the Jolly Wampa and the Ice Empress at the moment your fleet emerged from hyperspace. Due to the Star Destroyer Vanquish exiting on the edge of the planets atmosphere, several ships were destroyed. We believe the Jolly Wampa and Ice Empress were both crushed so it seems highly likely that the Shadow Dancer was also.

'What do you say to this Admiral Tymbala?' said Vader, his toneless voice making this seemingly logical question take on a whole new level of terror.

Mattesta fought the urge to wipe away the trickle of sweat wending its way down his brow.

'Well my Lord, the fleet had to calculate exceedingly quickly to ensure we arrived before the ship got away, and we needed to be close to the planet to be sure of capturing all departing ships in the interdictors gravity well. It is possible that a few ships got caught up in our exit from hyperspace I suppose….'

'Hmm. So how do we find out Lockee?'

Well my Lord, I propose that the Admiral conducts a sweep of the debris and assess exactly which ships were destroyed. Meanwhile, if the Shadow Dancer did survive, we should receive word from our Operative in the next few days.'

Mattesta was wondering if he should become religious, prayer seemed a good option at the moment. He really wished Lockee hadn't mentioned Shadow. Who knew what Shadow was up to right now?

'Good work Admiral Lockee, we shall indeed follow your proposed course of action. I want an update the minute your Operative contacts you. Admiral Tymbala, maybe I should pay your ship a visit, ensure your entire crew knows the importance of correct calculations.'

The holoimage disappeared from in front of the two officers as Vader cut them off. They both sat down shakily and said nothing for a few moments. Eventually Lockee ventured: 'Correllian Twister?'

Mattesta nodded gratefully and the two men shared a drink and a few more minutes of silence before the younger officer made his excuses and went to fill in Deckard on their near-death experience.

Coming up: Deckard and Mattesta set the jaws of a trap...

Thank you for reading everyone, and giving these characters a chance. A special thank you to anyone who has followed and favourite-d, it really means a lot.


	10. Chapter 10

**Spectrums**

Six made his way to his berth. They had all been up all night and it had been a long long day before that. He knew he should sleep, but although he tried, his brain was buzzing. Maybe it was the vestiges of Inez tea, but more likely the thoughts of Rune haunting him right now. Supposing he had brought a dark side Jedi on board the ship? And worse still was currently using all his resources to nurse her back to health and get her ready to go out into the galaxy and wreak havoc? That was a thought terrifying enough to keep anyone awake.

And yet his instincts told him that was not what was happening here. If she had already turned to the dark side she surely wouldn't have been chained up, abandoned and dying in a prison cell?

Maybe, but a tiny voice inside warned him to be wary of his own thoughts. He knew that above all else he _wanted_ her to be a Jedi – for his own sake. He couldn't bear the thought that she wasn't here to save him somehow. But how could he deny that she was a risk? She might not have turned yet, but she could do. A lot of damage had been done to her. Did he know enough about the Jedi to stop her falling any further?

He must have dozed off, for he awoke abruptly to a sharp beep, and saw the message light blinking on his data console. He knew before he even turned the screen on that it was a data packet from Contact.

He read the message fast. A potential cell on Ord Mantell. Several incidents of 'terrorism' and the imps closing in on the fledgling resistance. He needed to get his crew there fast. He checked the time - they should be on the final leg to Homestead by now, but it didn't mean they had to call in on the planet, they could just jump straight out to their new destination instead. He went to find his Second and get her input.

Inez had left Rune to sleep and headed to her own bunk to try - and fail - to do the same herself. Thoughts were whirling around in her brain. Was that tiny innocent girl a deadly danger to the whole crew? She knew she had to be pragmatic and not let her maternal instincts over-rule her head, but it hardly seemed possible that such a pitiful creature could be a monster in the making.

Within a few minutes she had given up on sleep and inevitably she found herself wandering back down to engineering. To her surprise she found Rune awake. She was sat quietly so as not to wake Star, and gazing unseeingly at the wall, her face a picture of worry. Inez realised that she wasn't the only one whose thoughts were racing, wondering what this all meant. Rune looked just as uncertain as she felt herself. Inez admonished herself mentally, her doubts seemed so foolish when she looked at the frightened girl. She wasn't a monster, and they were all going to help make sure she never became one.

Inez took her to the medical bay for a check up to pass the time. Rune didn't take much persuading to follow her, anything to take her mind off things. Inez ran her medical diagnostic through her datapad. You could see with the naked eye that the girl was massively improved: her skin had a healthier colour, what you could see of it through the scar tissue, she was still skeletal, but she had an alert expression and had stopped cowering. Although she became exhausted very quickly, she was taking an interest in the things around her and was eating small meals. Her blood pressure was improving, the diagnostic was no longer screaming warnings of imminent multiple major organ failure. It was progress.

'How come there are no scars on your face?' Inez bit her lip she hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Rune thought back. It was on Vader's orders. Back when she and her Master were first captured, the Inquisitors had contacted Vader, hoping for glory and great reward at capturing two Jedi alive. But the hologram Vader had taken one look and rejected them – leaving them to the tender mercies of their captors. His only instructions had been that the Inquisitors were to turn them both and then bring them to him. Damage to their faces was strictly forbidden, he wanted to recognise them next time he saw them.

It was a strange request and Rune knew instinctively that Vader had recognised her and had rejected her because of it. She didn't understand it – after all he had killed all her friends without a qualm - but she was certain. Was it because he knew what she and her Master could do? The Sith Lord knew they were the two people in the galaxy most likely to know who he had been. And his strange actions seemed to confirm it.

She had waited patiently, refusing to turn no matter what the inquisitors did to her, and no matter how much she thought about seeing Anakin again. She dreamt of saving him, restoring him to the hero he used to be. But she knew it was a pipe dream, when he failed to make her his dark apprentice he would kill her. She had gradually accepted that death was her fate, whether at the hands of Anakin or the neglect and abuse of the Inquisitors. Now, finally, when she was ready for release from this unbearable life, she had been rescued. After all this time. How ironic.

She realised with a jolt that she really was starting to believe that she had been rescued. But she didn't intend to share any such information with this crew just yet. She still wasn't _certain_.

She looked at Inez and shrugged.

Six found Inez just returning from Engineering. He beckoned her to follow him to his berth impatiently.

'We have a mission – Ord Mantell' he blurted, the moment the door swished shut behind the tiny woman. 'When we drop out at Homestead we just need to jump straight on – we can't afford to stay.'

Inez nodded but held up a hand. 'Listen I have an idea. I don't think Rune is ready to come with us on a mission. She needs peace and quiet and a chance to reconnect with her Force at her own pace, without being crammed in here with us noisy lot.

Now her health has stabilised why don't we leave her on Homestead while we go on the mission? We can leave Dan – or Vail – to look after her. We should only be a couple of months. Its spring there, nearly summer. She will be warm, safe, we can leave them plenty of food. She can take as long as she needs to find her way back to being a Jedi'. The words 'and no reason to have any dark side visions' hung between them unsaid.

Six nodded slowly, he didn't like the idea of leaving her behind, not seeing her and knowing she was safe every day. He felt very uneasy about letting her out of his sight. But logically he knew it made sense. They were going into danger, and she could not help them or defend herself. He couldn't risk taking her to Contact, so Homestead did seem like the perfect solution.

And it would solve a lot of problems – or atleast defer them until later – which was good enough for both of them.

'Good thinking Inez. That could really work for us and her, I'll talk to her about it a later. I have something else to sort out first.'

That something was their plummeting rations. Six was concerned, food was still going down too fast. And if they were planning on leaving Rune on Homestead with enough food for three month he was going to have to order more rations the moment they hit Ord Mantell. Someone was stealing food.

Inez listened to his concerns with growing alarm, she hated to think badly of any one on board. She cast about for an alternative theory. 'Have you checked the oxygen levels? Maybe someone is stealing food not for themselves, but for a pet?

Six looked at her like she was mad. How would any one stowaway a pet on here? We don't have room to swing a jawa?

But he checked the air levels all the same. Sure enough, they were also down. Six frowned. 'Well maybe you are right, but either way we are sorting this out today.'

He addressed the issue with his crew that morning around the breakfast table. They were all sat eating and talking and squabbling as usual. Rune was sat quietly at the farthest end from Six with Star at her side. It was her first meal at the big table, on Inez insistence. She didn't like Star missing out the family meals to keep Rune company, and she rather thought it would do Rune good to be forced to be in the same room as Six and do something normal and enjoyable like eating. Neither of the girls joined in the conversation but at least they were there. Rune looked frightened to be in such a noisy and crowded environment, but she couldn't ignore the call of the food and was managing to eat some dried fruit and some sweet damper bread, though her eyes never stopped scanning the room for danger. She physically recoiled when, at the end of the meal, Six banged on the table to bring silence so that he could make some announcements.

'Team, we have a mission at last. We are going to Ord Mantell. A group there have started some resistance and we need to get in there quick and find them. I will send city plans to your data pads, read up and we will have a planning meeting at fourteen hundred hours. We should be arriving at Homestead in about 90 minutes and we will only stay a couple of hours so don't get comfy. I also have another very serious announcement: I am going to have to implement some rationing'.

'What?' moaned Kehl, 'Didn't we just stock up?'

'Yes, we did - and that's the problem' said Six abruptly standing up and drawing all eyes to himself. ' We had enough food to last us and now we don't. Why is that?'

For once the normally garrulous crew were quiet as they all looked at each other in genuine puzzlement.

'C'mon man, I bet its Kehl's – he's been putting on some weight' shouted Vail, clearly not taking the issue very seriously, 'or you just miscounted.'

'No, I really haven't miscounted' stated Six firmly, overriding Kehl who looked ready to dive into an argument and punch Vail given half a chance.

'Some one here is taking more than their share of rations and I want to know who and why. Now, I am going to my cabin and I am giving that person a one hour amnesty to come forward and own up. If you come and see me, there will be no repercussions. If no one comes forward then the food will be locked up and there will be no more helping yourself.'

'Aw, c'mon man' groaned Dan, well aware that he and his brother benefited from a lot of the snacks and treats that Inez and Star never bothered with.

'I mean it. And for that, you two can make the restock run when we get to Ord. Remember folks, one hour amnesty.

Six stomped off. His crew might squabble amongst themselves but he had never known them be dishonest. It was disheartening.

The crew cleared away the remains of the meal, speaking in hushed tones. At first they'd all thought Six was joking - no one was taking extra – but they all knew when Six meant business, and right now he was furious. There had to be some kind of mistake.

Rune quietly finished her bread and limped slowly out of the mess while Star was clearing away.

She must have stood a minute outside Six's door before she found the courage to knock.

Six shouted 'open' and started to rise expectantly from his chair, but when he saw Rune shivering at his door, he sat back down in confusion.

He didn't invite her in. 'Um, Rune, I am really happy to see you, and of course my door is always open - as it were - and I do have something I need to discuss with you, but right now I can't speak to you. I need to be free for when the food thief comes to see me.

Rune winced at the term food-thief and tentatively stepped into the doorway, paused and took a second tentative step. The door swished shut behind her and she leant against it for support, her fingers only inches away from the door release.

Six subconsciously backed his chair away from her, until it rolled up against the wall. Her closeness made him nervous, he didn't want to hear her screaming again, the memory of her trying to get away from him still haunted his nightmares.

'Rune I need to sort out the food situation.'

Rune nodded.

Six looked at her puzzled, as comprehension slowly dawned. 'You know who it is?' Six couldn't keep the shock from his voice. Was she going to say it was Star? that couldn't be right. The engineer didn't even eat all her own ration without starting in on any extra.

Rune nodded again and held up her thin hands. She slowly put one on her own chest and one to her side as if resting it on another person.

Six stared at her in astonishment, his brain working furiously. Two hands – and then it clicked. The incomplete records. 'There was another prisoner on the Vortex….and now…they are on board….this ship?'

Rune nodded slowly, she looked dangerously pale as if the effort of standing for so long was too much for her.

Six swallowed. He needed to remain calm and not let any of his anxiety at having an unknown threat on board bleed through into his voice or expression. He thought hard, trying to remember what those partial records had said.

'They were being taken to Lord Vader as well? Against their will?'

Rune nodded again.

'Then can you offer them my protection? They are as welcome on board as you are'

Rune stared at him.

'Did you think they wouldn't be welcome?'

Rune nodded painfully slowly.

Six resisted the urge to leap up and steady her, she looked so dizzy from all this effort. 'Are they – er – bad? A murderer, or slaver or thief?'

Rune shook her head with a bit too much energy and swayed alarmingly.

Six clamped his arms to his sides to stop himself from reaching out. 'Then my offer stands. Will you bring them to meet me?' He was very anxious to meet the person who could stay on this cramped ship, hidden from his crew all this time. He hadn't even been able to imagine how someone could keep a wamp rat out of sight.

Rune took a long breath and then slowly looked to her side. Six eyes followed her gaze and then he blinked several times. To his astonishment he saw a faint outline of a humanoid shape next to her. There was someone stood right there with her. Her hand was resting on its shoulder. He stood on instinct, and only his quick reflexes stopped his hand going for the blaster that usually rode his hip. The one he had slung on his desk when he got back on board on Tatooine.

He noted both that Rune lifted her hands as if she was going to use the force and the shape took up a defensive pose.

'Welcome, friend' he said bowing, as if that had been his intention in standing all along. He wasn't sure he fooled either of them, but they accepted the gesture of good will and the creature took on a clearer outline as Six eyes adjusted.

'I am Six, Commander of this ship. As a fellow victim of the Empire you are very welcome on board.' He blinked as the creature moved and briefly solidified in front of him. If he concentrated hard he could make out that it was about one and a half metres tall and quite broad in its stature - easy to see where his rations had been going. He got the impression of a pointed face and, he thought, fur.

'So please, sit, he gestured to a chair and realised that there were only two chairs and three of them. This was resolved by the wraith-like creature carefully helping Rune into the second chair and taking a protective stance over her. Six lowered himself back into his own, not sure of the protocol here.

'Maybe one of you can tell me your story? How you came to be captured?'

Rune made no move to speak, instead to his surprise the creature stepped forward, bowed and began to speak in fluent, if gruff Basic. I am Tour I A'Vic of the Defel.' He paused. 'You have my gratitude for rescuing me and for offering me sanctuary on board your ship. I owe you a life debt.'

Out of the corner of his eye Six saw Rune stiffen and wondered what it meant.

Six nodded 'I assure you there is no debt. I and my crew are happy to have come to your assistance. Not all the people in this Galaxy are like Vader. But please continue'

The creature inclined his head and continued. 'Defel are not - space-faring. Our planet is hard to find and its harder still for ships to leave our gravity well. As several ships have found in the past. Those people were made welcome on our planet and taught us your language. More recently ships have found us that have been able to break free, and a small number of us left with them against the rulings of our elders.

I was just a youngling at the time, but I understood why those Defel defied the law and left. It was exciting to think of other planets and peoples. I was determined to journey to the stars. I worked hard at school to learn all I could about language, science and engineering, there were many new advances since we had star ships to study and their crews to teach us. I learnt how to tap into the planetary scanner system so I could watch for star ships approaching. After three years my scanners identified a star ship entering our atmosphere. I snuck up to the surface to watch them land and see if I could sneak on board.

Knowing other races cannot easily see us; I thought it would be easy to stow away. But this ship came prepared - they scanned me on my own and avoided the official welcome party to capture me. I had no idea they knew exactly what they were doing until it was too late.

I was a prisoner and I don't even know if anyone on my home world knows they took me….. The human who took me treated me well but wouldn't let his crew near me. He told me he was taking me to a Lord Vader and he was going to be paid a lot of money for me and given great honour and status, but that I also would be much honoured.

'Why are your people so valuable to a Sith lord?' Asked Six wonderingly, although even as he spoke the words he realised just looking at the Defel was enough to clue him in.

'I know not what you mean by Sith, but my people are warriors first and foremost. The human told me my race are almost invisible in most light waves on other planets - giving us superior stealth capabilities. I was to join Vader's elite guard'

Six drew in a breath as all the ramifications started to filter through his brain. 'Were you there when I was in the detention block rescuing Rune?'

The Defel ignored the interruption and amiably enough returned to its story. 'After my capture the human put me in a cell, he said so that his crew could not see me. It was not part of the ships structure, built quickly just for me I think. I found how to get out of it within a few minutes. But I didn't know how to escape the ship, so I explored it and always returned before my daily visit from the human.

Then the human brought Rune on board and put her in the cell next to me. It was easy to get into her cell.' the Defel paused, a distant look in his eye as he remembered their first encounter. 'For the first time I truly understood what I was dealing with. I had been kept warm and comfortable with plenty of food. Runes treatment was not the same.

She was barely conscious, injured and so thin. I wrapped her in my blanket, gave her my food, but she couldn't eat it. She feared me at first, but when I took my blanket and food and returned to my cell just before the human came to feed me, as he did once a day, she accepted that I was a prisoner too. But she didn't know how to get off the ship either. She told me to locate the nearest escape pod, that maybe we could use it when we next dropped out of hyperspace. But although we dropped out several times the hyperdrive never powered down and we always jumped again within a few minutes.

While we waited we just talked together, that was how we spent our days. She told me a little about the old republic and its destruction, explained who Vader was. I told her about my home planet. And I carried on keeping her warm, but she ate so little, she was gradually fading away before my eyes. I decided next time we dropped out we must try and leave, no matter what. When we felt the ship emerge from hyperspace I helped Rune stand up but as I unfastened the hatch to climb out the explosion happened, and the power went out. The force of the blast threw her into a wall and knocked her unconscious. I tried to wake her, but I couldn't. I could hear other explosions, we seemed to be in a battle. A siren started up. I left Rune and went to see what was happening. I went to the nearest pod and it was gone. I checked pod after pod – they had all gone and there was no one left on board to help us.

I didn't know what to do then. I despaired of ever escaping but then I heard your ship docking and watched your crew board the ship and go their separate ways. I went back for Rune intending to stow away with her on board your vessel.

I got to the cell just as you came and yes, I saw everything. I thought maybe you would hurt Rune or leave her, but you didn't, you picked her up and carried her. I didn't know what to do, but I could hear from your speech that we needed to get off the ship fast, so I let you take her and didn't kill you. When you fell I got ahead of you and went up the shaft, slipping out past the men hauling you up on the rope. Then I followed as she was carried to your ship. She was taken to a small room I couldn't go in, but I crawled into the vents and was able to watch from the ceiling as you tried to save her. I saw you meant her no harm. And no one has done anything since to make me think otherwise or I would have killed you all of course, apart from a pilot and the medic.

Six didn't get the feeling the creature was joking. It was hardly tactful of the Defel to say so, but with his ability to merge into his background he was probably factually correct. The crew were not in the habit of carrying weapons with them on board, they were at their most vulnerable. His own blaster, just out of reach, was a case in point.

But he said nothing as the Defel's tone took on a more reflective note. ''I knew from your crews' actions that I was in a good place. You have treated her honourably and with kindness. I have tried to tell her you are not her enemy, but her experiences in life have taught her that trust is a hard-won thing. She wanted me to stay hidden until she was sure, and so I have done as she asked. I stayed mostly in the cargo bay, but I have eaten your food, relied on your life support …not honourable actions I am ashamed to say.'

Six wished he could have seen the creature's expression right then, certainly his voice was filled with affection for Rune and regret for his own subterfuge. He watched Rune pat the opaque clawed hand on her shoulder as if she heard that as well.

' That explains a _lot'_ said Six with feeling 'but I am glad to have you on board '. It was a relief that one of his own crew wasn't the thief for a start. 'You did what you had to do, your first duty was to protect Rune, and that is honourable. You needed to be sure of us and I get that. I am glad that we understand each other now and I look forward to getting to know you and hearing more about your world, and to teaching you more about the galaxy you find yourself in now. But let's start by giving you a name we can all pronounce. It is customary to call someone only by their first name?'

'Rune calls me Torri'

Then with your permission, we will also' said Six 'I will arrange a berth for you, I can put a cot in with Kit and Kehl.' Six refrained from smiling, neither party would be happy to share, and certainly not with such a large creature. 'You are very welcome to stay on board and join the crew or leave whenever you want. '

Torri bowed again but kept his own council on what his plans were.

'I can also try and take you home one day' said Six thinking fleetingly of if the fledgling rebellion could get an army of Defel's on side. 'but it sounds like we need to find out if the Kraken is capable of leaving it first, and we have a mission to complete right now.'

Six turned his attention back to Rune, who was looking very tired.

Rune this is what I wished to talk to you about. Inez and I are worried about your ability to heal. If you come to Ord Mantell with us you will have to remain cooped up onboard and you wont be able to go outside at all. And no, Ord Mantell is not an option for you to take up residence on – its almost as bad as Tatooine. We will be focused on our mission and not much company for you. Not to mention the risk to you and the ship, crew and mission if we were boarded for inspection by the imps and they recognised you somehow.

But Inez came up with a brilliant suggestion - that we leave you on our Homestead planet for a few months to recuperate while we are working – it's nearly summer there and there is no sentient life on the whole continent. You have stabilised health wise, but you need exercise, sunlight and good food to build your strength - and time and peace and quiet to build your connection to the force. Inez could leave you a programme of exercise and you could practice your meditation to your hearts content. You would be safe and have no anxieties. I was worried about you being alone, you should have companionship after all this time in captivity, but with Torri - you wouldn't even be alone, and he could maybe hunt, and you could forage when you get a little stronger. Then we could pick you up at the end of our mission and think seriously about your future.

Rune nodded wistfully thinking of peace and sunshine and safety. Things she had never thought to have again.

It's not without risk though, if anything happened to us you would be stranded. We could leave you a beacon and a way to get in touch with our Contact though. So, risks are not insurmountable.

Rune clasped her hands together hopefully. Torri spoke for them both 'We would like to go to your Homestead. I have seen it and it is a good place'.

'Excellent, that's settled. Then I think now would be a good time for you to go back to engineering Rune, while I introduce Torri to the rest of the crew and tell them our plans.

He put out a ship wide alert that all crew were to join him in the mess in ten minutes, Inez was to come to the captain's quarters immediately.

Inez was taken aback to discover that they had an extra passenger - but above all else relieved that there was no subterfuge in the crew. And she quickly realised that they didn't have to leave one of the brothers behind anymore – Torri could stay on Homestead and look after Rune. For once things seemed to be going their way. She helped Rune back to engineering for a rest, the poor girl looked very shaky after the excitement of the last hour. She was more than happy to leave Torri's introduction to the rest of the crew in Six' capable hands

In fact, introducing Torri went surprisingly smoothly with the crew. They were squabbling as usual when Six and Torri entered the mess. Six told the team calmly to sit and explained that he had found out what had happened to their food. They had a stowaway from the Vortex, a fellow prisoner like Rune. Immediately the crew protested that there was no way there could have been a stowaway, without them noticing - until Six turned to face Torri and one by one the crew fell silent as they realised there was an extra figure in the room.

Such was their trust of Six, they wasted no time in becoming acquainted with the alien stranger. They were fascinated by Torri, straining their eyes to make out his shape, touching his fur and even going to get their night vision helmets to check him out in different light spectrums.

Torri accepted all of this good naturedly, and to Six' relief, when he started talking to them and filling them in on some of his history, he didn't mention that he had been thinking about killing them all in their beds.

The brothers were particularly excited to meet him, recognising a fellow hunter and warrior when they (partially) saw one, and devastated that he wouldn't be coming to Ord Mantell with them – they were keen to invite him to some sparring sessions in the hold. Torri, for his part, admitted he had watched their daily workouts and would have liked to pit his skills against them.

But it was to be only a brief getting to know you session – all too soon they emerged from hyperspace into the system of their adopted home planet.

Kehl checked for tech and then headed the Kraken swiftly down to the surface. Six had set Dan and Vail on with pulling together enough supplies for the two former prisoners to last them three months. Kit set about showing Torri how to access the comms array from a datapad so they could check in with each other at regular intervals, and how to send out an automated one shot message if the team did not return in three months. That message would bring Contact. Six impressed on Torri that if by some remote chance the imps found them, they must destroy the datapad at all costs.

As they landed Inez realised that she was no longer quite so sure she wanted to leave Rune behind. Her head told her it was not safe for the crew to have Rune on board when she was so weak, and it was not safe for Rune to be on board when they were about to embark on a mission in such an imp infested place as Ord Mantell, but…

Despite Runes reluctance to communicate, Inez had grown very fond of her, she felt protective of her and when she thought of the things that could go wrong either on Homestead or on the mission she felt very afraid.

Six was having similar thoughts. He had no desire to leave Rune behind, he had an over whelming fear that he would never see her again. He didn't know how he could carry on if she slipped through his fingers, and yet she was not his to keep. She was her own person and if anyone deserved their freedom it was she.

With a heavy heart the Commander and his Second settled the two waifs and strays on to Homestead. They left them plenty of food and water, a speeder bike so Torri could hunt on the coast, the data pad, blankets, and camping equipment. Then they walked back onto the Kraken and left them there…..

**Setting the Jaws of the Trap**

'Incoming Transmission' announced Deckard coolly. Mattesta's heart nearly stopped. It had to be Shadow. 'Full audio' he hissed.

The distorted voice filled the room.

'Shadow reporting in. What in the Jundland Wastes happened on Tatooine. We nearly didn't make it out alive. That was _not_ the agreement.'

Mattesta took a breath. 'You have some items you shouldn't have, you've attracted the attention of some powerful individuals'.

'We don't have those items any more'

'None of them?' Mattesta could hear the blood thundering in his ears. 'What about the_ prisoners_?'

'We don't have them anymore'

_Anymore?_ 'But you had them?' Mattesta could have wept. They were alive.

'What's it to you?'

'We have been tasked with getting them back.'

'Well it's your choice – our deal was a one-shot. So what's it to be? The terrorists or the prisoners?'

Mattesta thought fast. 'The terrorists of course. But do you know where the prisoners are?'

'We will rendezvous with them at the end of the mission, I can't tell you anything until then'.

Can't or won't? wondered Mattesta.

'Our next mission is Worlport on Ord Mantell. ETA 7 hours'

Mattesta was aware of the situation there. Deckard had already identified it as a possible next target for the group and was already stood at his shoulder holding out her datapad.

'Proceed as usual. He consulted Deckard's pad. Head for the Rancor's Rest as soon as you can. Our operatives will make contact with you there. Monitor for an outgoing transmission to Contact. As soon as we have that we should be able to triangulate. At that point we will move in and arrest the crew.'

'Not if you want to get the prisoners back. You will wait for my mark. Once Six has sent whatever signal he arranged to get them to the rendezvous point, then you can move in.'

'Confirmed. And out.'

The transmission ended and Mattesta and Deckard looked at each other speculatively. 'Did you believe Shadow doesn't know where the prisoners are'

Deckard considered. 'Shadow knows. But Shadow is clever, this knowledge makes them pivotal to the prisoners recapture. But does it matter? Doesn't it serve our purpose to tell Vader he will have to wait this time? While we finish our original mission?'

Mattesta smiled. 'So it does' Then his smile faded a little. 'But someone needs to tell Vader he has to wait.'

It was Deckard's turn to smile. 'Surely that is Lockee's job. When you brief him, be sure to emphasise that we have managed to turn things around after the Tymbala debacle. We have confirmation the prisoners are alive, and our operative will make sure that we can retrieve them at the right time.'

'Yes….of course. I will go and see Lockee now. You prepare to ship out, you can come with me to Ord Mantell. Oh, and maybe bring an analyst with you – the Shadow Dancer crew tend to split up a lot, they take some monitoring when things start happening.'

'Yessir' Deckards thoughts were already racing ahead. On one hand she had wished the prisoners dead so that Vader would be gone from her life once again. Whatever he touched turned black and poisonous and she never wanted to see him again. On the other hand this was her chance to bring Petrosk closer, he would be perfect for this little trip…

She sent the transfer order to Tahndi and poured herself one last, delicious coffee while she waited for the unsuspecting young analyst to report to her desk.

She was, she reflected, on the brink of destroying the resistance network and returning two valuable prisoners to Lord Vader himself. It was so tempting to step into the limelight, but she knew what happened to people who did that. No, she just needed to keep her head down and quietly build her status and power as she had planned. She _must_ bide her time. She had promised to avenge her father and she would not let her own pride get in the way of that.

Coming Up: As Rune tries to reconnect to the force she has a terrifying vision of the future…


	11. Chapter 11

**Nexus**

Once the Kraken had gone, Rune stood in front of the hangar entrance and breathed the fresh air deep into her lungs. She couldn't really remember a time when she hadn't been breathing in the endlessly purified and recycled air on board a star ship. This air carried scents of grass and rain, there were eddies and breezes caressing her face and ruffling her shorn head. The occasional gust of a cooler wind reminding her that winter had not long gone from this planet and could make a late return if it chose.

By her side, Torri stretched luxuriously, intrigued by the tantalising scents carried on the winds of the first alien planet he had ever stepped claw on. His eyes were half-closed, atuned as they were to seeing in the dark underground of his home city. Even the artificial light on the Vortex had been hard to adjust to, and bright sunshine was impossible to bear. Inez had found him a pair of heavy duty goggles to shield his sensitive eyes and had warned him to stay out of the sun at peak times, even with his fur to protect him she had been worried he would burn.

After the pair had spent a few minutes silently taking in this wonderful new vista, Torri helped Rune to wrap up in some blankets and then dutifully catalogued the items they had been left. He started to set up a little living space for them in the cavernous hangar, all the while yearning to run and explore and hunt and lay claim to this strange new territory. When the set up was completed to his apparent satisfaction he went to find a good place outside in the spring sunshine for Rune to meditate.

By the time this was all done, evening was drawing in and Rune was exhausted just from trying to stay awake and alert and explain to Torri what the various items were for. Torri prepared them a meal from a variety of containers and steeped some tea. Then they sat quietly together for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

'That was lovely thank you Torri. I'm going to retire for the night now, and you should go explore - just be back for breakfast!'

Torri didn't need to be asked twice, he carried her to her bed of blankets, bowed once as was his custom, and was gone.

Within a couple of days the pair had settled into a steady routine.

Rune would rise at sunrise and breakfast with Torri. Then she would hobble very slowly out of the cave to sit on the rocky outcrop that Torri had found for her near Xinns vegetable patch. Torri would walk patiently by her side, carrying her supplies for the day. She knew he would carry her if she let him, but she was determined to strengthen her muscles so she was less of a burden. The moment she was settled, he would be off, exploring the mountains and plains, revelling in the abundance of plant and small animal life that he had never encountered before. The beauty of it, the sights and smells were all-consuming to a creature that had lived its life beneath the surface of its home planet.

While he roamed far and wide, Rune would sit in the gentle rays of the spring sunshine and once she had recovered from the walk, she would calm her mind, reaching out to feel the force. It was like she could feel the edges of a great ocean with just the tips of her fingers. She knew it was there, but she couldn't quite get a hold of it, it fell constantly through her grip. It was like the force sensed that she might twist it to her own ends and was keeping just out of reach. After a few days of getting no closer she wondered if she was approaching this all wrong. How she longed for her old master, or for Yoda to guide her and advise her. She felt so alone, even with Torri by her side. Like she carried the weight of the Jedi ways on her thin shoulders and it was going to crush her if she couldn't find her way back to the force. And maybe even if she could.

She pondered for many hours, twisting and turning the problem over and over, this way and that in her mind. All she eventually concluded was that she should go back to the exercises she had been taught with the other younglings. How to completely clear her mind until only the force remained, how to feel it flow through her.

That had been an exciting period of her life. The younglings had been taught that many would feel the force flowing most strongly through themselves, and they would likely become great warriors and pilots. Others would feel the force most strongly flowing through others, through words, animals or the natural world around them: they would most likely become healers, archivists and writers, or control beasts or the weather. Not that a Jedi couldn't learn any and all force-skills, but that they would naturally be stronger at some than others. All her classmates had been very keen to find out what their futures held, most hoping to be great warriors of course. She had been just as eager, but it had taken her longer to connect with the force than anyone else in her class. But that had been because she hadn't recognised what she was seeing from the descriptions she had been given. She didn't feel the force like her classmates did, she saw the force whirling all around her and through herself and everyone and everything. As it flowed and ebbed and twisted she saw eddies within the force, convergences of events that drew her in to the visions at their core. Visions of the present at first, then the past, then gradually as she honed her skill, forward into the future, then further ahead and further afield. Each a nexus, a possible vision of the future. She was, her teachers told her, a rarity in modern times. She was a far-seer.

So she sat and went through those old exercises over and over again, she didn't know what else to do….

Six gathered his crew for a war council. 'Ok, so we are heading into Worlport, capital of Ord Mantell. A snake pit if ever there was one. The local newsnet has been reporting on native saboteurs – the FreeOrd group - attacking the heroic Empire for about three weeks now'.

Xinn snorted rudely, echoing the thoughts of everyone present. She looked particularly bad tempered today.

These saboteur groups were usually shut down by the Empire pretty quickly, but any that were wily enough to survive and with the resources to make multiple attacks were worth recruiting to the cause. The cause being an attempt to build a network of cells that could eventually become an organised form of resistance to the Empires iron fist.

Six and his crew were tasked to find the groups before the Imps tracked them down and slaughtered them. Finding such groups was always difficult, they were in hiding after all and if the Empire hadn't been able to find them with all their resources, then they were well hidden. Making first contact was the most dangerous part. Knowing the Empire was out to find you was guaranteed to make any group highly paranoid, and the Meet and Greet team, as Six liked to call Inez and Xinn, had to try not to alarm the so-called saboteurs to the point they ran, or opened fire. The MaG team had a perilously short time to build their trust and recruit them before the Empire found them all. Once contact was established, Six's onboarding team would dive in and give the new cell lots of tried and tested methods to stay out of the Imperial clutches, and train them in guerrilla tactics.

But always in the back of both the fledgling cell and the Shadow Dancer crew was the thought that the whole set up could be an elaborate trap laid by the Empire to capture _them_. It put everyone's nerves on a hair spring trigger. An easy place for the whole thing to go horribly wrong.

Once the natives had proven themselves, introducing them to their new Contact via link was the final part of the assignment. The Contact would become their main source of missions and information because the Shadow Dancer would leave the planet and make no further contact with the new cell. That was important for the safety of both groups. Contact didn't know exactly where the fledgling cell was, the cell had no idea where Contact or the crew were.

Inez often thought this whole operation seemed to revolve around the left hand not knowing who, what or where the right hand was.

'Inez, you will take Xinn and do the initial recon. The intel from Contact indicates FreeOrd may operate out of the south side of the city – since the imps moved in to the North and East side of the city, any big corp in the South has moved across to come under their protection. So there are plenty of abandoned industrial units filled with squatters in the South. Easy place to hide in. We should be able to avoid the imp installations for the time being.

Kit, you and Star go into town with the ladies and try out Kits new comms tracking programme. It might give us the edge we need to get to them before the imps.

Those of us staying behind will analyse the attacks so far, see if we can work up any insights to help you.

Once you have made first contact we will move into the Southside with you, Star you come back and baby sit the Shadow Dancer with Kehl.'

Kehl let out an audible groan, the inference clear. Why did he have to be the one left behind to miss out on all the fun?

Six ignored him.

'Ok, saddle up guys' announced Inez, 'I want to be on the road as soon as the customs checks are done when we land in….' she checked her chronometer….'5 hours. Pack yourselves an overnight bag, Kit get us a clean data pad each, Xinn, work up the best dives to check out –select one to operate out of and then divide the rest between the two of us.

You both know the drill, first one to get a solid lead gets the fame, glory and the next technicolour sleep suit.' Kit whooped enthusiastically and hurried off with Star to make their preparations. Xinn followed at a more adult-appropriate pace.

Kehl had them docking in a cheap spaceport on the outskirts of the Southside as quickly as he could. The moment the desultory customs check had been completed the four members of the MeetandGreet team were hoisting their packs on their backs and heading out of the shabby space port to get a local shuttle.

Inez hated those planets, Ord Mantell included, where you could look up at the sky and see huge imp destroyers hanging immoveable above you like angular thunder clouds. The oppression was tangible, reminding you that the imps were watching, always watching you…. She resolved to keep her head down and her hood up while she was outdoors atleast.

Like Xinn she was wearing typical spacer gear, a hard wearing jump suit, battered and dusty, or 'authentic' as Inez liked to call it. The kids had adopted more of a 'cool street style', as Kit called it. He was wearing his punk skater kid gear, with his hood up and goggles on. He didn't need to look approachable, in fact he needed to look as anonymous as possible. Star was in her oily engineering gear and a spare pair of Kits goggles. Inez had artfully painted some Twilek tattoos onto her head tails and face, in designs that Kit had said were 'in' right now, so she too looked the part. The ink was semi-permanent so as not to smudge on assignment and Star had been none too thrilled, it would be weeks before this lot washed off. Her mulish expression inadvertently struck just the right note of obstinacy universal to teens everywhere.

Xinn had assigned the Wookies Arms as their base camp bar and then split the list of bars out between herself and Inez. For some reason, Xinn reflected wryly, potential resistance cells could always be found hanging out in seedy bars. Wasn't it about time the imps cottoned on to that little piece of stereotyping?

The group found the bar easily enough as it was on the main street and their shuttle stopped right outside as if it intended to tip is passengers straight through the swing doors and into the maw of the beast.

It was no surprise when most of the passengers did indeed just disembark straight into the bar. Inez disengaged and went to find them a table in the crowded room, it was pointless her trying to get served – the bar tender would never notice her short stature in a crowd. Star meekly followed Inez so Kit took the opportunity to accompany Xinn to the bar.

She seemed a bit more jovial now the mission was under way. Or atleast she wasn't actively scowling. Kit had observed Xinn very closely and could interpret most of her scowls now. If she wasn't scowling then she was verging on content and less likely to bite his head off. He couldn't see what there was to be content about on this scummy planet, but he was mainly glad to see her in a mood that might make her more receptive to him.

'Er Xinn' he began tentatively, and then paused as she bellowed across the three deep crowd at the bar. 'Hey, four Alderaan beers'

Even from across the hubbub the barkeep heard her, gave her a thumbs up and began assembling her order. There were various disgruntled mutterings and glares from the crowd queueing in front of her but Xinn didn't look even remotely apologetic. Kit gazed at her admiringly, and then remembered his question.

'Hey Xinn, do you want to get a drink later?'

'Kit, we gotta lot of ground to cover – this place is choc full of bars, and not much else. We are going to have to work overtime to meet Inez schedule.'

'Oh, yeah, of course' agreed Kit trying to hide the wobble in his voice, and glad for his goggles covering his eyes. She was right of course, it didn't mean she was rejecting him outright…. Yeah Kit, you keep right on deluding yourself. He could have kicked himself. He was so stupid. She was a professional, focused on the task and the safety of the crew. Now she would think even less of him that she already did – if that were even possible.

He helped her carry the drinks back, they had appeared in a miraculously short time. He drank his as fast as he could and told Inez he wanted to crack on. Inez looked slightly startled, she and Xinn had been carefully evaluating the comings and goings in the bar, as they bounced their potential route ideas off each other.

'Ok, well lets rendezvous back here in five hours. Happy hunting.

Kit shot out the door, with Star trailing behind not unhappy to be leaving her mostly untouched beer behind. Inez sighed internally. She hoped Kit wasn't going to be a problem. She knew he was hopelessly in love with Xinn but he didn't usually struggle with focus. They both had critical skills for hunting down the potential cell, and she didn't want to have to choose between them. While she and Xinn worked their way around the dives looking for leads, Kit would move from cyber café to cyber café trying to trace where the terrorists were transmitting from while moving often enough that the imps didn't trace his illegal hacking. Over time Inez and Kit had begun to view this part of the mission as a bit of a competition – whoever tracked the group down first won.

Kit had never managed to win – yet - but he had been getting closer with every mission. Then Xinn had been recruited and over the two missions they had completed together the two streetwise ladies together were proving to be an unbeatable combination. After the last mission Kit had realised he needed someone to help him as well – and there was only one choice. It had to be Star. Star wasn't particularly interested in what he got up to, engineering was her bag, but she was a very fast learner and had a knack for tech.

So Kit had bribed her with the one thing he knew she couldn't resist. He would show her how to upgrade the ship tech to support all the engineering improvements she made on board. She hadn't been able to resist that carrot and it had been a deal that had turned out to be mutually beneficial. Alongside learning to repair the ship, Kit had learnt how to upgrade his kit, so that the hardware could keep up with the software improvements he made. Star had learnt how to improve the software of her beloved Kraken so that it could do justice to all the improvements and upgrades she made. They were both happy.

Well, happy-ish. Star was a solitary creature by nature and she wasn't particularly keen to go out into the city for several days. Still, she understood how important Kits job was at this stage of the mission. His technical wizardry was the thing that could give them the edge in locating any potential cells before the imps did. And besides, what Kit hadn't considered was, that if they beat Inez and Xinn to find the cell, then the whole crew wouldn't be able to resist teasing him and saying he had only won their little competition because of Star.

And she knew that Kit was a kindly enough soul that as well as teaching her his tech secrets, he would look after her in the dirty, smelly, crowded city.

In the nearest cybercafe Kit jacked into the local system easily enough, showing Star how to ease into the imp controlled holonet without setting off any alarms. FreeOrd had been transmitting messages to the imps and to the local media stations, and that would be their mistake. Kit had no doubt the imps would be working this angle just as he was, and they had a head start. But they didn't have him. He soon forgot Xinn as he started to untangle the trail that would lead him back to the FreeOrd group. Before he knew it, his alarm went, two hours gone. He jumped up, reminded Star to clear her browser history permanently, and moved onto the next cybercafe to continue the search. No matter how much progress he made or how close he thought he was, when his alarm went, he went – golden rule no 1 of staying alive. He spent the walk to the next café impressing this fundamental tenet into Star as well.

For their part, Inez and Xinn finished their drinks first, and even shared out Stars – you never wasted perfectly good beer afterall. Once they had managed to make eye contact with a few of the locals, they split up and trailed out to start their own investigations. Xinn had given Inez all the nearest bars as it took her much longer to walk anywhere. The taller woman strode out and headed for the first bar on her list. The Rancors Rest.

By the time the four of them reconvened in the Wookies Arms, they had all made a little progress.

Xinn had found the FreeOrd symbol in graffiti on a wall near one of the bars. She was working her way around the area and tomorrow she would see if she could find more. It was a valid way of checking they were in the right part of the city. Inez had been chatting to locals, complaining about the imps and saying how she wished there was something she could _do_. No one ever thought Inez might be an imp. She was way way _way_ too small to be a stormtrooper. She had noticed a couple of people take notice of her so she was hopeful that word would get back to the FO group. Of course, it might be going back to the imps, or both – but they were the risks you took. The kids had found definite trails and best of all Kit had managed to set up an alert based on the transmissions they had made in the past. The next time the potential cell transmitted, he would know, even if it was the middle of the night, and he could try and track them back to source.

Inez was heartened, it wasn't every time that they made such immediate progress.

They stayed a rather uncomfortable night in a nearby boarding house with a single room to rent. There was one flea infested double bed, which they could all fit on providing they didn't mind being elbowed in the face at random times. Xinn soon gave up and threw her pack on the floor and used it as a pillow. She didn't seem to find any difficulty sleeping on a cold floor. Kit awoke mortified that he hadn't stayed awake long enough to gallantly offer to sleep on the floor in her place. Though to be fair, he was sure that he wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink - unlike the object of his adoration who seemed to find sleeping on plascrete perfectly comfortable.

The next morning dawned and the four prepared for their first full day of searching. While Inez and Xinn went their separate ways to mooch around and become part of the local scenery, for Kit and Star, it was now a waiting game. They needed the FreeOrds to make a transmission. Twice.

It turned out to be a frustratingly long wait. Three more days before the terrorists made a transmission and all the while Inez and Xinn were making connections and getting closer to their targets. Then in the late evening, just as Kit had settled down to try and sleep, the beep went off on his datapad. He leapt up and grabbed his pad, and within moments he was tracing the signal, Star at his side watching his every move. But they both knew he was already behind in the race with the imps to trace the signal back to source before the group cut the transmission.

So far the terrorists propaganda holovids, illegally channelled through the holonet, had never lasted more than 90 seconds. Kit had managed to work out they were routing their signals off planet so it took longer for the imps to trace it back. But Kit had a plan. This first time they transmitted he would trace the signal in the traditional way, knowing without direct access to the holonet he would be behind the imps anyway. The second transmission was the time he was going to work his magic.

The signal cut-off all too soon, but as Kit had suspected, they had traced it off planet and through hundreds of relays. And he had a good solid trace on it up until the point the transmission cut off.

Excellent, part one of his plan had gone perfectly.

Part two was something else, something he had never tried before. But they needed to wait again, for the next transmission.

It was a further four agonising days before that happened, all the while knowing that Inez and Xinn were making getting closer and closer to making first contact – and so were the imps.

But early on the morning of the fourth day, Kits datapad beeped again. The kids were on it in seconds, desperate to see if Kits new programme would work.

It all hinged around the transmission signal. Providing FreeOrd used the same equipment each time, each transmission would have the same tracer code. When they broadcast, the imps would always start tracing the signal back from the destination because they assumed that each time the signal would travel a different route. But in Kits experience, only groups with lots and lots of money – like imps - could afford to use a random signal router. It was unlikely that this group had loads of money – and so their signal would travel the same route each time. Therefore, the first time Kit tracked their signal, he would be behind the imps and wouldn't get to the source. But the second time he would start the trace from where he lost it, not from the destination and that would put him ahead of the imps, and with a chance of reaching the source before the transmission ended.

Unable to breathe, the pair watched the tracer pick up the signal from its last point and successfully start to track back on screen. They watched breathlessly as it headed back to Ord Mantell, to Worlport, to the Southside, and bingo! To a unit only metres from the Wookies Arms. They didn't even notice the transmission end, they were too busy hugging each other and laughing and cheering. Kit had won the competition at last and Star could finally go back to the ship. Oh, and they had found the FreeOrds….

Back on the Shadow Dancer, Six was equally jubilant to hear from Star that Kit's programme had worked. They had never managed to track a group down in under two weeks before, this was a new and encouraging record for the whole team. Contact would be pleased. Yes, there was still some work to be done for Inez and Xinn to make contact, but after that Six's team would be able to move in and get the group recruited and away from the Imps in no time.

He yelled for Dan and Vail and told them to be ready to move out in three hours. He wanted to be prepped and waiting in Southside the moment that Inez or Xinn confirmed they had made contact and confirmed interest from the FreeOrds. Sometimes that could take several days, but other times it could be a matter of hours.

Star waved them off happily. She was quite happy to leave them to it, she had plenty of maintenance jobs she wanted to get on with. As many of them as possible would be down in the bowels of the engines where Kehls moaning and complaining couldn't reach her.

Rune was still finding it difficult to come to terms with having absolutely nothing to do except relax and soak up some sunshine without pain or hunger or fear.

Torri was off exploring, either around the mountains or more recently he would take the speeder bike and explore the plains. Once he had reassured himself she was ok on her own, he had even struck out for the coast to explore the sea. She knew he was enthralled. In the evenings as they ate together he could talk of nothing but the amazing things he had seen. She wondered if she would feel as entranced about his home planets cave systems if she ever got to visit as he did about this simple, ravaged world.

For her part, she spent her days trying to commune with the force and letting her exhausted, malnourished body heal. To feel the warm sun seep into her bones was the most beautiful feeling she could ever remember. It caressed her skin so gently, and tried to banish the ever present memories of endless cold and hunger and blank, featureless walls.

Each day she would take time to enjoy the view and sunshine and then gradually sink into the Jedi meditation process. But although she cleared her mind, and breathed deeply and relaxed her muscles one at a time, she still could not sink into the Meditation trance. There were times she thought maybe her connection to the force began to strengthen just a little, but that was the best she could say. After several hours of going through her relaxation techniques the force would ebb and flow a little closer until it seemed to rest against her skin like it was waiting for her. But that was the only progress she made. And eventually she had to accept that the force was not going to return to her just because she was relaxed. She didn't think she could get any more relaxed. She was going to have to try something else again.

She spent that evening once wondering what to try next, and if Torri noticed that she was even less communicative than normal, he was too polite to say anything.

Her thoughts ran over and over again the question of if she should try to far-see. She had sworn she would never far-see again, it had caused her so much pain And yet it was the thing she did best, it was a part of her living with the force. Where other Jedi's might excel at fighting, her strength had been an unusual one. Not that that had always been the case, but gradually as the Jedi had started to recognise there was a dark cloud coming, that they could not see through, they had also realised that that the number of strong far-seers born in recent times had dropped to just one – her.

She realised that she had to try. It was the thing she was born to do, so it had to be her best chance of connecting to the Force, maybe her only chance.

The next morning she spoke to Torri before he left her on the rock.

'Torri, will you stay close today?'

'Of course. I have been thinking about looking for caves systems around here, but have been enjoying the surface too much. Are you ok?'

'Yes, I'm fine. I want to try something different today, and I don't know how it will turn out. If you come back though, and you cannot wake me, don't worry. It just means it worked and I have been able to go into a meditation trance.

If I do, I will aim to stay in for only a few hours – they are very healing but while we are alone here I don't think any longer than that is wise. SO if I go beyond the day there is something wrong. There is no one can help me, just carry me inside, keep me warm, and wait for the others to come back ok?

Torri nodded, but he felt worried. He knew nothing about Jedi, but it didn't sound very healing to him. 'Are you sure you need to do this? You look so much better these last few days – you have a little bit of colour, you are growing stronger each day.'

Rune smiled at him 'I do need to do this, I need to know if I am going to be able to connect to the Force again…or not. Its about peace of mind I guess.'

Torri nodded again, as if he understood. But he didn't. He resolved to leave but find a place a little way away to watch her from. Even Rune couldn't see him when he was completely still.

Rune waited for him to leave and then settled herself onto her blanket, her arms loose by her side. She didn't mean to worry him, but she really didn't know what would happen – it felt like a make or break day and she needed to prepare him for the worst-case scenario.

She slowly worked through the techniques to clear her mind and then she was ready. She reached out and touched the edges of the force. She could feel it comforting and warm, lapping at the furthest reaches of her thoughts. She thought back to how it felt to farsee, how natural it felt, to let go of the past and the present and see into the distance, whether across time or space….

And suddenly she fell, it was like she was plummeting into water, but it was a river of the force so strong that she felt for a moment like she couldn't breathe – it filled her eyes and mouth and nose, and then suffused her body with a pulsing, roaring, overwhelming force like it had been held away from her for too long and a tidal wave was crashing over her and she couldn't breathe or see or hear.

And then in a second the vision encompassed her and she let go of all physical sensation as it took over her entire being.

She was falling, tumbling downwards, until she hit reality and the focus of her vision head first – an imp stronghold. It took a few moments to focus and stop the terror overwhelming as she took in the familiar grey, featureless walls. But that was forgotton, as her gaze fell upon Six, gravely injured, captured by storm troopers, beaten and tortured. If she had had any breath to give it would have been ripped from her then. He looked broken and bloody, all hope gone and yet he fought on. He would not give in. He would not give up his secrets. She looked into his soul right then, and saw it burning bright and true. Abruptly, her vision skewed and twisted and morphed into the Kraken burning and the bodies of her crew strewn around the ship in a rictus of death. Her vision jagged around the ship and she made out the body of Inez, and then, Star, blackened from an explosion and covered in strange unearthly symbols on her broken headtails – 'NO!' The shock of it thrust Rune out of the vision then, screaming and screaming, unable to catch a breath, unable to stop shaking and mewling until Torri caught her in his arms.

'Look at me..Look at me, look at ME! He roared, bringing her abruptly to her senses. She was panting for breath, shivering and crying, tripping over words that wouldn't form.

'What happened? What is it? Tell me!'

Rune tried to get herself under control, but the vision of Six bloodied and splayed unnaturally on the floor was what she saw through the tears overwhelming her eyes. She fought to catch a breath. There was only one way to help him, and to help Inez and Star and the rest. She needed to find control, she inhaled, stilling herself through sheer willpower, calming her trembling and regaining a thin, high-pitched version of her voice. 'Get the transmitter, I…I need to speak to the ship'

Torri didn't hang around, he ran back to the cave as fast as he was able. Those minutes would give Rune time to compose herself and then maybe she could say what under the suns was going on.

Rune did her best to compose herself, her breathing was still hard and fast, and she was shaking so much, she had to lay back down to wait for Torri.

He brought the transmitter and patched her hurriedly through to the ship. Kit had set it up to hack into the holonet, so long transmissions were not to be made if you didn't want to risk having your message traced. He had programmed a strict time limit on the datapad.

Rune forced herself to calm down there was no time to waste.

To her relief Star answered the call almost immediately.

'Star, its me'

Star looked at Rune aghast, far from looking relaxed and tanned, she looked white as a sheet and tear-stained.

'What's going on, are you ok? Has something happened'

'Yes, I mean No! But something is going to happen. Six is going to be captured. I had a vision – you need to come and get Torri and I straight away. Who is with you on the ship right now?'

'Oh Rune! I'll come straight away. Its just me and Kehl'

'Wait' Rune cast her mind back to her vision. She remembered seeing Star and Inez dead amongst the wreckage, she couldn't remember if she had seen Kehl or not.;

'Is he there, can he hear this?'

'No, he's gone to get himself some tea from the mess while I take the watch'

'Good, you can't tell him or bring him. You have to get Inez, just you two. OK?

'Well-'

'Just you two Star, promise me'

'Well, ok, I guess I can find a way.'

The datapad beeped warningly, 30 seconds to go

'And come straight here, don't go a long route – we don't have much time'

'Ok, we're coming, don't worry, be ready'

The two girls looked at each other and the transmission cut out.

Rune looked at Torri. 'Let's go pack' he said, stuffing her blankets and pillows into the pack and preparing to carry her back to the hangar.

Stars first instinct was to commlink Inez and tell her to get back here, but she realised that would generate more unanswerable questions from her, and then from Kehl when she kicked him off the ship. She had to be clever about this. The idea hit her almost straight away.

She ran to the head and started making very loud vomiting noises, splashed some water over her face and grabbed a towel to hold over her mouth with one hand while she clutched her stomach with the other.

'Kehl, Kehl' she yelled, trying to sound sick and loud at the same time.

'What in the swamps of Dathomir is going on?'

'I'm sick, really sick – you need to fetch Inez. Take her place and send her back. Quick, its serious.'

Kehl was not a natural born nurse. He hated being around anyone who was sick. And even more pertinently he hated being stuck on the ship while everyone else was out on the mission having fun. (not that he didn't moan like heck when he was out on the mission as well).

He didn't need to be asked twice, he got the specially adjusted speeder bike that Inez could ride, and shot off into the southside of Worlport.

As soon as he was out of sight, Star straightened up, threw the towel to one side and hurried to the cockpit to start warming the ship up ready for take off. This was typically a twenty minute process. She was quietly confident that Inez would be here by the time she was ready to leave.

Sure enough, 19 minutes and 37 seconds later, Inez roared up the ramp, dumped the bike and started running through the ship shouting for Star.

Star closed the ramps and turned to face the little woman.

'What the heck is going on Star? I thought you were sick? Why are the engines on?'

'Sit' said Star quietly, she had had 20 minutes to think how she was going to put this to Inez and she still wasn't sure.

'Rune got in touch. She had a vision…. Six is going to be captured.'

'What? That can't be right? Six?' Inez shuddered with the horror of it. 'But I don't understand. Why do we have to fetch Rune? What is she going to do?'

'Well her force powers must be back, she is the one who can save him' said Star as firmly as she could considering she was making it up now.

'But surely if we just told Six he could avoid the situation, why does she have to come here?'

'We're running out of time. We need to act, she is the only one who can save him. Events must already be in motion'.

Inez held up her hand for Rune to stop talking. What the heck was she supposed to do now? This could be a trap. This sounded exactly like a trap. What if they'd left Rune alone on that planet and she tried to commune with the force and instead was taken over by the dark side?'

Still even if that were true, she struggled to see how summoning just Star and Rune to fetch her was going to help. Did she think she could take over the ship? With Torri by her side, she could have done that any time she liked. Torri could have killed them all in the blink of an eye. It didn't make much sense as a double cross, but neither did it make much sense if it was genuine. What could Rune actually do? She certainly couldn't fight.

There was no logic Inez could apply here. She had to go on gut instinct, or just weigh the odds. What was the worst that could happen? If Six was really about to be captured and they didn't do the one thing that could help him, then she would never forgive herself. If they did fetch Rune and it was a double cross, then atleast the rest of the crew would be alive, even if stranded on Ord Mantell. Contact would be able to come and fetch them.

She made the only decision she could. 'Punch it Star, no time to lose'. Then she prayed it was the right one.

Star leapt into the Captain's chair and manoeuvred her beautiful ship smoothly up into the sky. Inez fired up the astrogation computer. Between them they were perfectly capable of flying the ship, even if they didn't usually do it. Star didn't have the panache of Kehl but they would get there as fast as it was possible to do so, and they would get back equally fast.

Even with their new astrogation computer and a direct route it would be nearly five hours before they reached Homestead. As they climbed into the sky Inez sent a datapacket to Six – she daren't call him. 'Comms problems, had to take them off line – diagnostic estimates 10.5 hours before back on line. She just had to hope that would hold them.

Kit had been out at a cyber cafe checking the imps internal comms lines for any information on the terrorist cell again. So far the imps still didn't seem to have any intel on their location – which was a relief because the ladies had been having unusual difficulty in persuading FreeOrd to join them and form a new cell.

Once his final two hours of the day was up Kit had arranged with Inez and Xinn to meet them at the Wookies Arms for a debrief at 18 hundred hours. He wondered if Six and the boys would meet them there too. Despite leaving the ship early the soldiers were kicking their heels with not much to do. Not that this had bothered them too much, they had been busy tracking imps and plotting their patrol routes through the southside, just to be on the safe side. But their presence made the tiny bedsit very very cramped. Kit sighed, he hadn't had a good nights sleep since Star left and the boys descended on them. With that in mind he had wrapped his search up before his two hours was up and headed out. Maybe if they had a quick drink and got back to the bedsit they could get some sleep before Six and the boys piled in, because they sure did like to drink.

He got to the rendezvous a several minutes early and was puzzled to spot Xinn slipping down a dodgy looking back alley. He was always looking for any excuse to spend a few minutes alone with her, and this seemed like a great opportunity. If he could sneak up on her and make her jump, maybe she would compliment him on his improved stealth skills, or maybe she would see something in him that she could like or….admire or…...

**Double Agent**

Xinn slipped into a quiet corner of the yard behind the Wookies Arms. She had fifteen minutes before she needed to be at the bar to meet Inez and Kit. She didn't like to do this so close to their base, and she didn't like to rush these things, but she was running out of time.

To her relief she saw her handler already waiting in the shadows, leaning on his speeder bike.

'Shadow. Do you have it?'

Xinn nodded and glanced behind her, she thought she heard a noise, but no one was around. She was getting paranoid. 'They've just agreed to work with us, and I've planted the chip into their comms equipment. Six will send a datapacket to Contact soon so you need to be scanning.'

'Good work Shadow. Maybe the triangulation will work, but if not, now you have planted this, any communications Contact has with the Cell will trace both ways – and we shall have him soon enough'

Xinn nodded impressed at the tech. 'Then I'm no longer needed on the Shadow Dancer crew?'

'For now, you are still needed – stay on board atleast until we have had chance to test the chip is operational. Then we will bring you in.'

'It had better work, I'm not doing that again.'

Her handler shrugged. She would if they told her to.

'I have to go' she muttered, exasperated at her handler's casual belief that she would do exactly as she was told. 'They're expecting me and I don't want to be late.'

The handler nodded and climbed onto his speeder bike. 'Stay alert agent, we're nearly there.' He shot off in the opposite direction and was gone from view in seconds, through the twisty, dirty alleyways.

Xinn took a breath and turned back to the little passageway she had come through.

Kit stepped out in front of her. 'Xinn…who was that?'

His voice hitched and she could see the distress in his eyes. The jig was up, he must have heard atleast enough to know she was a double agent. It was written all over his innocent, hurt, beautiful face. Oh Kit, why did you have to be so naïve? You should have turned and run…

'Why are you asking me Kit? You think I'm gonna confess all and break down in tears?' She was giving herself time. She couldn't believe she was going to have to do this.

'Xinn, you're one of us. Why are you selling us out to the imps? I…I _love_ you'

Xinn flinched. She had known it and she hadn't wanted to know it. 'Kit, this isn't a romantic holovid with a happy ending guaranteed. This is real. The bad guys don't confess all and surrender. They…' it was her turn to falter. 'They do this.'

She shot him.


	12. Chapter 12

Breathe

'Nooooooooooooooooo' Six felt like all the air had left his lungs, he tried to scream but the crushing pain in his chest allowed only a high-pitched keening sound to escape his lips.

Those moments flashed before his eyes, strolling down the alley way, hearing Xinns voice and getting that first sensation that something wasn't right; emerging into the light just in time to see Xinn lift her blaster, an agonised expression on her face. He remembered wondering what was causing her the pain, and then the shock of light as the blaster fired. Still not really comprehending what was happening until he saw Kit fall to the floor and Xinn turn on her heel and run. Away.

Then falling to his knees beside Kit and that wave of knowing crashing over him, drowning in the realisation that his boy was irretrievably, irreversibly dead.

'No, no no no no' his cries melted into grief-stricken sobs 'please no please no' he didn't know who he was asking, but how could the universe look down on this poor dead boy and not give him his life back? This poor boy who had known so much pain and fear in his life, but had still been prepared to give it up for the greater good.

'It wasn't right, it shouldn't be Kit, it shouldn't be him' he moaned, but there was no one to hear.

He clutched Kit closer to him, the lifeless, skinny body, clasped in his big bear hug like a rag doll. He pressed his lips to Kits forehead and his tears streamed down his face and onto the boy, but his tears couldn't pour life back into his sweet face.

Maybe if he had run, instead of sauntering casually…..

Maybe if he hadn't stopped to look at a street advert for a new blaster….

Maybe Maybe Maybe…

Maybe he could have intercepted Kit before he headed down the alley. They could have followed Xinn down the alley way together. Maybe Six could have pushed Kit to safety, or got off the first shot.

Maybe.

Six looked down at the boy he cradled in his arms he couldn't even breathe with the overwhelming horror of it. He had seen death so many times before and yet he couldn't comprehend how he was looking at Kits lifeless body. He was supposed to keep him safe, the boy wasn't a fighter. He had never hurt anyone in his life.

Xinn was forgotten in that moment. All Six could think was that this baby was like a son to him, so innocent and naïve that he would confront Xinn even when it was so clear that she was a traitor, that he would place his life in her hands even then. The poor boy didn't even carry a weapon, Xinn knew that and she had shot him anyway.

Six was thrust back into the moment as his lungs painfully gulped for breath, and the oxygen hit his system with a rush of agonising grief and sorrow.

Xinn, she had lived with them for months, how could she do this to them, how could she do this to Kit who had loved her despite all her moods and surliness? And where was she now? And what was she going to do?

He realised he couldn't stay here, rocking Kit in his arms. Now her cover was blown Xinn would react. That thought was enough to bring him to his feet fast. He needed to put his grief to one side, to save it until he knew the rest of his crew was safe. He lifted Kit in his arms and sprinted back up the alley way. He had to assume that Xinn was an imp – it was the only explanation that made sense. Until proven otherwise he would operate on that basis. His brain flew through options as he ran. He needed to get the group back to the ship. He needed to warn the FreeOrds to escape – their cover was blown too, Xinn had spent all day with them negotiating an agreement.

Those were the two priorities right now. He would think of next steps when he had those two safe under his belt. He got on the commlink and then discarded it, Xinn would still be tuned into their frequency. He ran into the Wookie's Arms and to his relief spotted Kehl chatting to Dan, Vail walking across the bar with a tray of drinks. He tried to shout, but a hoarse, alien noise emerged from his throat that he didn't recognise. Still, something called to Vail's hunter's instincts and he turned toward Six, a smile starting to form as he recognised his Commander. Then, in slow motion, Six saw his gaze move down, the smile slip from his face, and the tray from his hands, his mouth forming an 'o' of shocked denial.

'Wha-' he started to run toward Six. Dan and Kehl turned at the noise of the drinks crashing to the floor, their eyes shooting to Vail and then following his gaze to Six.

Somewhere a million miles away Six heard Kehl shout 'No!' as he saw Kits body in his arms. He still couldn't speak, but he turned and ran back out the door, knowing the trio would follow him. They would follow and hope that Kit was just unconscious, and he couldn't bare to tell them that he wasn't. He got his head down and ran as hard as he could back out of the door and up the bustling main street. As if he was running away from the moment they asked him that question.

Neither the brothers or Kehl had any trouble interpreting Six movements, they needed to abort the mission. Nor did any of them _want_ to ask Six the question; because seeing that look in his eyes had given them the answer they didn't want to hear. Something somewhere had gone badly wrong and right now they just needed to focus.

The three men got their heads down and ran after their leader and his terrible burden.

Dan tried to commlink the ship but got no answer. 'Six, the comms still aren't back up' he yelled, laying on a burst of speed to catch up. 'What's going on?'

Six tried to keep his voice even. 'Xinn, she betrayed us. We have to get out of here'.

And we have to warn FreeOrd, he added mentally. But he was realising he had no way to do that. Only Xinn could reach them. So now the fledgling cell were sitting ducks and Xinn and the imps could pick them up at their leisure.

'We have to get back to the ship' he continued when no one asked about Kit. 'And we have to leave. Try Inez again.'

There was no response, and the team concentrated on setting a good pace they could maintain over distance, while covering a lot of ground. It was market day and the streets were crammed with people, which made it difficult to run and difficult to keep a look out for imps.

Six and the boys had been studying the local scene for several days while they waited for Xinn, and initially Inez, to persuade the FreeOrds to join them as a cell. They knew there were no shuttles due for a good fifteen minutes, and when they did come they were slow and cramped – traps more than escape vehicles. It was market day so there were few vehicles parked on the main street, to make more room for stalls and the crowds of customers, so it looked like stealing some transport wasn't much of an option either. The only good thing was imps would have just as much trouble moving through the crowds and spotting them as they were experiencing themselves.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before an imp did spot them and summoned a nearby patrol. The pack emerged into the main street and started running after them, opening fire as they did.

Well that was one way to create a stampede, Six reflected as the crowd started screaming and panicking. Six motioned for Dan to take rear guard, as they crashed through the crazed mob of people, taking full advantage of the cover while they still had it. Dan kept a close watch behind but didn't let any shots off, he didn't want to hit any innocent Ords.

In the chaos, the imps didn't seem to be able to close the gap, and Dan wondered if the crew could maintain this distance between them all the way back to the Shadow Dancer. But even as he was wondering, he spotted two imp speeder bikes in the distance, approaching along a side street. Bikes, they couldn't out-run. He weighed up the distances of the two sets of approaching imps and decided to take the chance. He knelt and aimed through the crowded street and took two perfect shots down the side-street, taking out the two bikes. The most pressing danger dealt with, he got up and ran under a barrage of blaster fire from the approaching troopers behind him. They didn't seem to have any issue with mowing down innocent citizens, and were just firing indiscriminately. It was chaos everywhere, people screaming and fleeing.

Dan sprinted through it all and was able to catch up with his crewmates. The streets were clearing now and the imps would have a clear line of sight. It was clear the team were starting to flag now, sweat dripping into their eyes under the merciless sun. They had been running for what felt like a very long time though it was probably no more than twenty minutes.

Six cast about for options. If they couldn't warn the girls' they were coming then they were going to have to cold start the ship – and only Kehl could reliably do that. But unfortunately Kehl wasn't on the ship.

It was obvious what they had to do. He called out his strategy.

'Kehl you need to get ahead to cold start the ship. We'll delay the troops a little, take Kit.'

Six gently handed over the boy and Kehl started to sprint ahead while the boys put down enough of a suppressing fire to keep back the imps behind them. One of them would fire at the imps while the other two ran forward, then they would fire while the first caught up, and so on. Standard delaying formation.

Kehl soon left them behind and was just starting to think that he was going to make it when he rounded a corner and up ahead saw the wall of imps outside their docking bay, some setting up heavy blasters, others on look out, others taking up sniper positions.

He backed up hurriedly, his heart skipping in his chest. It was all over, the imps had overrun the bay, they must have already captured Inez and Star and that was why they couldn't get through on the comlink.

His knees felt weak beneath him, they were going to be captured, they were surrounded, there was no way out.

He pressed his back to the wall for support, his chest heaving for breaths. What did he do now? Go back to Six and make a last stand together? Or just sit here in the dust and wait for the end?

Just as he had given up hope, unexpectedly his commlink crackled to life. 'What the heck is going on down there, I take off for five minutes and the bay is overrun with imps.'

'Inez!' Kehl could have wept with relief, maybe they still had a chance to get out of this mess. 'Inez, remember Coruscant?' he tried to speak calmly so as not to alert Xinn if she was listening in, but he needed to stop Inez before she could say anything else that would give the game away. He held his breath while he waited to see if the Second remembered – how could she forget? – the near disaster they had on Coruscant, and took the hint to switch to emergency protocols.

'Roger Roger' chipped in Star. There was a pause and a hiss, then his commlink completed the switch to the new protocols – something Kit had programmed – where the channel was randomly changed every two minutes. That was Kits lucky number, the power of two. Kehl thrust that thought to the back of his brain. 'Inez, Xinn is an imp, the missions aborted, we need collection now.' He drew a juddering breath into his straining lungs. If the ship hadn't fallen to the imps maybe they still had a chance.

'Let me scan where you are…..got you…. Head to Bay 71 it's just down that side street from you, its empty, we'll put down there – where's everyone else?'

'They're coming, trying to keep the imps back while I came to cold start the ship – guess I don't need to do that now' Kehl grunted, concentrating on running as fast as he could back down the main street and towards the side street that led to 71.

'Let me comm Six, tell him the change of destination, over'

Kehl didn't respond, he was using his breath for speed.

Six could have wept with relief when he heard Inez voice over the commlink on the emergency protocol. 'Six, head to docking bay 71, ours is overrun with imps.'

'Roger that, we're under fire though, not going to be easy'.

'Just get here Six, don't give me excuses. Out'

Six grinned, trust Inez to try and lighten the mood in the midst of disaster. 'Cmon guys, we need to make a run for it. Bay 71.'

The brothers mentally recalculated their route. Another squad of imps had appeared from a different direction and were laying down a steady stream of blaster fire across the deserted streets. They could hardly hear themselves think.

The trio stuck to their formation, keeping up a steady retreat, but the imps were closing relentlessly. Cover was scarce on the street, there was the odd abandoned vehicle, but street lighting rods didn't make for very good hiding places. Unlike the imps, Six did not consider his crew disposable, but trying to keep to the sparse cover was slowing them down.

And they were going to run out of ammo soon.

Kehl rounded the corner into the empty bay just as the Shadow Dancer was touching down. The ramp was descending before the ships feet had settled. Kehl sprinted towards it, startled to see Rune at the top of the ramp. As his eyes adjusted, he made out Torri next to her. By the time he made it up the slope, he could just about make out Torri and see him step forward from the shadows, arms outstretched

Kehl looked him in the eye as best he could and acknowledged his quiet offer. He gently placed Kit in Torri's arms and then sprinted to the cockpit. Torri quietly took the boy to the med bay.

Kehl exploding into the cockpit, was nearly bowled over by Inez exploding out of it. 'I'll go and see to Kit she yelled as she shot past, clearly she had seen him carrying the boy out of the cockpit window and assumed he was injured. Kehl had hoped not to have this conversation just yet, he shot out his hand and grabbed her arm as she barrelled past.

'Inez. Don't. Its too late.' He couldn't look at her as she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. He heard her feet running down the corridor.

Star had been in the act of moving from the pilot's chair to the co-pilots chair that Inez had just vacated. He couldn't look at her either as he slipped past her into his seat. 'Don't Star, just don't – lets get everyone else out of here safely first.'

He heard a sob escape her, but she said nothing, only strapped herself in and brought the lower gun around to face the dock entrance, for what it was worth.

The three soldiers were slowed down further by the need to make every shot count, they couldn't afford to miss with the ammo they had left. They were retreating, but not fast enough. They were nearly at the entrance to the side-street that led to docking bay 71, but there was an open expanse of road with no cover they were going to have to negotiate.

It was Six turn to advance and he was going to have to cross that expanse first. As he prepared to sprint he was horrified to see a third squadron of imps swing onto the main street up ahead, from the direction of their first bay. It took Six only a split second to calculate that they couldn't keep all the imps at bay and run across the open space one at a time. It was all or nothing.

'Guys, incoming to the North. We all need to run to the side street on my mark'. He checked they were ready. 'Mark!'

As one, the three of them got their heads down and sprinted across the suddenly huge distance to the cover of the side street.

They were nearly there, just daring to think they might make it, when a stray shot hit Dan in the back, flinging him to the floor. Vail didn't hesitate, he reached down, grabbed his brothers arm and dragged him along the floor the last few metres. It wasn't pretty, but it worked, it got them to cover. Six let loose a few shots while Vail hauled Dan to his feet and took in the damage at a glance. Dan was conscious, but his legs were wobbling like a new-born colts, and his eyes had a stunned expression. He was out of the fight - but he still needed to run.

Vail hauled the strap of Dans blaster over his neck and threw the gun to Six, then wrapped Dans arm around his own neck and half lifting him, set off up the street. 'Run brother, if you can't do anything else run'.

Somehow, through sheer obstinacy, Dan was able to martial his legs enough to start staggering down the side-street, leaning heavily on his brother. Six brought up the rear, saving his shots until the first imp head appeared around the entrance to the side street.

He shot and ran, shot and ran, but he knew it wasn't going to be enough. Progress was slow, Dan was barely conscious, and he was a big guy for Vail to have to more or less carry. They kept moving, though it felt like they were running through treacle. Vail turned into the docking bay with a shout of relief, but Six could see the imps were closing fast.

Six took cover in the mouth of the gate and used the last of the ammo from both blasters to keep the imps at bay while the brothers crossed the docking bay, in what felt like slow motion.

Vail was sobbing with the strain of carrying most of Dans weight, but he wouldn't stop moving, he wouldn't leave his brother behind. He nearly cried out with surprise as the load suddenly lifted and he realised it was Torri who had sprinted across the docking bay to help him carry Dan back to the ramp and up into the ship.

They were just at the top of the ramp when Vail realised that Six wasn't firing any more.

The ammo was gone, Six threw down the blasters and sprinted towards the ramp with the last of his energy, but he knew he wasn't going to make it. He saw Inez appear at the top of the ramp, her face white with the horror of it all. He focused on her and the ring he had pocketed for her back on the Vortex that was still in his pocket, because he couldn't afford to think about what was behind him. The imps were too close and too many, and though he could see the gun turret trained on the docking bay doors, no one would be able to fire those guns while he was between them and the entrance.

When the critical shot came, he had a split-second to hope it would kill him before he lost his grip on consciousness.

'No!' Vail dropped his brother at the top of the ramp and turned to sprint back to Six. Only Torri's vice-like grip on his arm stopped him.

Imps were pouring into the bay now and closing on Six's inert body.

Kehl and Star in the cockpit, Inez at the ramp, everyone knew they should leave. No one gave the order, or took the initiative. They could no more have left without Six, than they could have shot him in the head.

Only Rune, stood in the shadows at the top of the ramp, saw how her vision was going to come true. If the ship didn't leave now, the imps would over run them, they would kill them all. It would happen all because no one on the crew would leave without their Commander. The imps were within a few metres of Six, Vail was firing the last few shots from his blaster in vain, it did nothing to slow their progress.

It was up to her to act.

She didn't even know where the power came from, but suddenly it was blazing through every atom of her being.

She reached out with the force and grabbed Six, hauling him out from under the noses of two troopers who were bending down to grab him.

He flew through the air like he had been shot out of a canon and hit the wall next to Rune with some force. She didn't even look at him, just transferred her attention to the close ramp button and hit it with a surge of power.

Vail was the first to comprehend what was happening, he didn't even wait for the ramp to start closing: 'Kehl, we have Six, punch it!'

Kehl didn't need to be asked twice, he punched it. He had no idea what had just happened, he had seen Six flying through the air like a rag doll for no apparent reason, but he trusted Vail. If Vail said it was ok to go, he was going. The Shadow Dancer leapt up under his lightening hands and rocketed out of the docking bay, her thrusters flinging the closest troopers back as she went.

Rune hobbled away without a backwards glance, leaving Inez and Torri to rush to Six' inert form, and Vail to go to his brother. Vail helped Dan up and guided him slowly to his bunk. The med cupboard was going to be full.

For the second time in only a few minutes Torri carried a limp body to the med bay.

**Sacrifice**

Xinn could have wept, she hadn't wanted to kill Kit, but she had reacted on instinct, like a cornered animal. She hoped he wasn't dead, but he had dropped like a stone. And Six hadn't come after her….

She sprinted down the alley after her contact and tried to push Kit to the back of her mind. She needed to think fast now, it was a race against time.

She couldn't sacrifice her life on the Shadow Dancer for nothing, she had to make it count. The deal was if she delivered Contact she became a ranking officer in Lockee's elite team. She refused to be a grunt, nothing ordinary. So how did she deliver?'

Her Handlers were always listening in to the crews chatter on the com links, so she sent the code to signify she was talking to them direct from a safe position.

'Mattesta, its Shadow, my covers blown. You have to stop Six and the crew reaching the ship. For some reason comms are still down, so they can't commlink in and warn them what's happened, they have to get there. That should give you plenty of time to pick them up.

'Roger that'. It was Deckard's cool voice. Though she had never met the woman, Xinn was already harbouring some dark thoughts about Mattesta's new right hand woman. She was so perfect, and always emotionless. The complete opposite of hot-headed, over-reacting Xinn.

'I have your location and will send a patrol vehicle to pick you up.'

'Great' Xinn knew she sounded like a sulky teen but she couldn't bring herself to play imps with this creature.

'I have dispatched all groups in the vicinity, I will have the vehicle bring you to us at the command centre.'

'No! You have to take me to the ship. I'll tell Inez the FreeOrds have agreed to join us and Six says she can send the confirmation to Contact. You track the signal and we will have him. Or her.'

'Good plan'. Xinn kicked the wall viciously. Even a compliment from Deckard sounded like she was patting a four year- old on the head for colouring a pretty picture.

'Then you take us to the Jedi.' Xinn kicked the wall again. The woman was a droid. She had to be.

She was left kicking her heels for a good ten minutes before the imp land speeder arrived to pick her up. They sped up the streets clearly showing signs of a recent blaster battle. There were bodies of civilians and stormtroopers littering the streets, friends and families wailing and mourning their dead, passers-by kicking the troopers and scavenging for guns, ammo, armour and anything else they could find.

The trooper driving, gunned the engines nervously and carried them relentlessly on, this wasn't the time to be a lone imp on the streets of Southside. Xinn shrunk down in her seat behind him and tried to look like a prisoner and not a comrade or informant.

They were half way back to the bay when Xinn heard Inez on the commlink, and her heart sank. What did she mean, they had only been away five minutes? And where were they now? And it was obvious that Kehl was telling her to go to emergency protocols, which meant talking on direct channels rather than group wide – much harder to break into.

'Deckard what's going on – have you captured the Shadow Dancer yet?'

'No, she's not in her bay'. Xinn was thrilled to hear her sound the tiniest bit fraught. Good!

'We are just trying to find out when she left'

'Well she's back, try and keep up' Xinn punched the air. Take that!

But her jubilation lasted only moments, the trail of bodies turned onto a side street and Xinn's landspeeder followed cornering sharply into a docking bay just in time to see the Shadow Dancer launch herself upwards, firing its lower gun turret as it went.

No Shadow Dancer, no Contact. This was going to be tricky.

**A Matter of Time**

The Emperor was contemplating the dark side; gazing into the swirling, roiling machinations of possible futures. He could sense something coming, but the dark side was obscure, possibilities falling over themselves, twisting and turning, like no single outcome could become more likely than any other. It felt like the darkness itself didn't fully comprehend what was to come, only that it would be significant. Its usual chaotic flows were in flux, there was a disturbing sense of waiting. Everything hung in the balance and the beat of a butterfly's wing could send it one way or another.

And then, for one moment, the force had lit up like a super nova. Someone out there had harnessed all that energy and used it for their own ends. In that moment it had felt like all the energy of the galaxy had flowed through that nexus point.

The Emperor smiled, well pleased with this turn of events. There was a new playing piece on the board at last. And the steps to harness that individual into his own plans for domination were revealed to him, for he was long practised at his art. He had had a lifetime to interpret the dark side of the force, the power plays and opportunities and the cascades of galactic events. And a lifetime to learn how to manipulate and eventually create events to further his own ends.

He allowed himself a few moments of reflection and self-appreciation. Even as a child he had known he was special, known he was destined for great things. Despite living on a relative back water such as Naboo he had learnt to maximise the chess pieces as his disposal, trading up and up as he went. Finding a Master and being indoctrinated into the ways of the Sith was just one step in his plans, for he had always had that connection to the dark side. He had always been able to look into the future and see the effects of the moves he made before he made them. Having a Master had allowed him to deepen his connection to the dark side, had allowed him to look ten, twenty, thirty steps ahead, allowed him to look across time and space, plot and plan every step of his rise to domination. Had allowed him to put plays into effect that he would not benefit from until years later.

Along the way he had come to despise certain aspects of the Sith, the Rule of Two for example. He could see why it was necessary in one aspect - Sith did not work well together - but it was also very limiting – and maybe by design. No Sith had ever really risen to the kind of galaxy wide domination that he, Palpatine craved. And even back then he had realised that he needed to find another way, a way to elevate himself to power, to be able to rule in plain sight, over all living creatures.

And when it came to him, it had been like a revelation, a song coursing through his entire being. He had known the truth of it even as the thoughts formed in his mind. He has seen the surge of viscosity across the whorls of the force, and he watched as redness flooded across the galaxy in his vision, like blood…

At first he had been thinking about how to give the Rule of Two more power. The arrangement just didn't give him enough power, he needed more to achieve his dreams. Mathematically, how did you increase two? You increased it by the Power of Two.

Two to the Power of Two was four.

He felt sure four was the magic number. But he still needed to break the cycle of the apprentice rising up and killing his Master – how did he do that? And that was when it all became clear to him: The Rule of One. One had all the power and instead of teaching it to just one apprentice who would eventually rise up and kill his Master, he would teach each third of his knowledge to three different apprentices. Each would have their own individual strength, but none would ever have enough power and knowledge to usurp him. And if one tried, he would have two others to defend him. And three Sith could never unite long enough to kill him, they would kill their rivals first. It was perfect.

And so he had set out to kill his Master and take on his own Apprentices. Killing his Master was a prerogative that came with the Rule of Two – his Master would expect him to try, and it would take time and cunning to carry it off successfully. However, he did not need to wait to recruit a first apprentice of his own. While he knew options were limited on Naboo, he had only a surprisingly short time to wait. He spent a lot of time in the countryside practising and strengthening his dark arts, and when he ran into a wandering Gungan far from its home, he had recognised immediately that in this chaotic creature were the seeds of the Dark Side.

The Gungan hadn't been difficult to turn, but he had been difficult to teach. The creature had a natural talent for creating chaos and Palpatine, still learning to be a teacher himself, had gradually realised that you could never form an apprentice in your own image, you had to help them enhance their own image if they were to be truly effective on your behalf. It was a valuable lesson.

So Palpatine had taught him only those aspects of his own knowledge that were about creating chaos in the universe. And, Jar Jar had certainly been very effective when it was finally time to deploy him. His first real mission was to be permanently evicted from his home city so that when the Jedi came he was ready to intercept them and play the victim. A task he carried out spectacularly, the chaos he had caused ever since was legendary, and had been pivotal in getting Palpatine his throne.

But even back then on Naboo, Palpatine had quickly become bored of trying to teach someone so undisciplined. There was no doubt that Jar Jar had developed a deep connection to the dark side and truly become a creature of chaos with his help, but although pleased with the results, Palpatine had not found it personally rewarding. He already had his second apprentice well established when the Jedi came.

Things had started to speed up when he took on Maul. To his mind, that had proven his Power of Two theory. The galaxy started to align to his desires with a second apprentice. But Maul was the complete opposite of the Gungan. So disciplined and only interested in honing his warriors skills that Palpatine had become just as bored as he had with Jar Jar. But Maul certainly filled a different sphere of the dark side to Jar Jar, and that was a key element of the plan.

He had already been luring Count Dooku over to the dark side just as Maul was killed by the Jedi. That had been hugely frustrating, just as he could have proved his theory for once and for all, he was back to two apprentices. In time though, he came to see that Count Dooku was not much different to Maul, maybe one step advanced. He was disciplined and a fighter just like him, and while he had diplomacy skills in his arsenal, that was hardly a dark side trait. In time he came to understand that the death of Maul had been wrought by the dark side to teach him his own lesson: the three apprentices must occupy three different spheres of the dark side to truly allow him to reach his full potential.

It had always been his intention to let Anakin kill one of his apprentices and then take their place, and this realisation made it clear that Dooku would have to go. Anakin was the ultimate combination, Maul and Dooku, whip fast and a legendary fighter. When the time came, he made no effort to spare Dooku – the two could not coexist and served his purpose.

But that had left a void that he still ached to fill. His plan of domination was still fulfilling itself with two apprentices; after all, he was the permanent Emperor of the galaxy and had effectively disbanded the senate. But still in the back of his mind was the need to have a third apprentice, if he was truly to live forever and have his name spoken with fear in every world down through the ages.

But this third apprentice must be different to Anakin and Jar Jar, and Palpatine had waited for a long long time to find someone who shared his joy in observing the currents of the dark side, to be able to see and interpret the future. Now, after all these years there was someone out there who could fulfil the final part of the jigsaw.

So yes, the Emperor was happy. His patience had been rewarded. With this new apprentice in place, his reach across the galaxy would be increased to such an extent that truly no one would ever be able to rise up and stop him…

Next Chapter: The battered crew try to escape a planet surrounded by Star Destroyers...


	13. Chapter 13

**The Ship who Fell to Earth**

The ship was rocketing upwards but they were not out of the woods yet. Above them was a sea of Star Destroyers, and even as Kehl tried to take cover in the stream of traffic leaving the surface, he could see two of the capital ships coming about, ready to take up an intercept course.

'Atleast two TIE squadrons launching' announced Star trying hard not to let any panic show in her voice. She wasn't used being in the hot seat when peoples' lives were at stake – but with Inez and Vail seeing to Six and Dan, Xinn gone and Kit…well…. that only left her and Kehl.

'Have they seen us, or are they just looking for us?' demanded Kehl accelerating through streams of cargo haulers all trundling towards the outer atmosphere. He was weaving the Kraken in and out hoping to stop the imps getting a lock.

Star pulled the scanner readings up on her co-pilots screen, 'Oh.. I think they're locked on to us already' said Star interpreting the unfamiliar scanners as best she could. The fact that the screen had turned a pulsating red and the words SCANNER LOCK ALERT were emblazoned across it certainly helped with that.

'Dammit'. Kehl stopped the weaving and just concentrated on getting past the haulers as fast as he could. 'It's no good' he muttered after a few moments. 'It's just no good'

'What's no good?' Star yelled, watching Kehl anxiously.

'Huh?' Kehl scowled at his instrument panel distractedly, he seemed to be making some mental calculations.

'Kehl - _whats_ no good?' Star was nearly frantic. She had never seen Kehl panic, but right now he looked like a man on the edge.

'I don't know what to do Star – by my calculations I don't have enough time to get out of the gravity well to jump - they'll be close enough to tractor beam several seconds before then…..'

'Kehl, we need to do _something_! We need a plan B. There _must_ be something' Star was shocked at how high pitched her own voice sounded, almost pleading. Now was not the time to act like a kid. The crew were counting on them. She needed to pull herself together. But the Star Destroyers were looming above them, the TIEs would soon be in range, and she was desperately afraid of being captured.

'So what is plan B?' Star and Kehl both jumped. They had forgotten about Rune. She limped in and took up a back seat, flicking switches on the dedicated scanner panel to bring up the latest readings just like Inez had taught her.

'We don't have it yet' snapped Kehl wondering if he should just turn around and go against the stream of traffic to fly back to the planet.

'Well, they are on a trajectory to intercept in 2 minutes. TIEs in 45 seconds. How do we get _off_ their scanner?'

It was an innocent question but it got Kehl thinking.

After that surge of power coursing through her as she pulled Six into the ship, Rune had wanted only to hobble away and hide with a blanket over her head; but the closer she got to engineering, the stronger the realisation grew that she couldn't do that. Their escape was by no means assured. The planet and its atmosphere was swarming with imps and the crew might still need her.

And a very very tiny part of her was wondering if Six was alive or dead….

She had been shocked to arrive at the cockpit and find only Kehl and Star there. The realisation that the crew were in such trouble made her dizzy for a moment. She sat down next to the scanners thinking only: What do we do now? How do we escape? Her fingers had started to operate the scanners more to distract herself, for she could hear her blood pounding in her ears, and feel panic creeping up her spine and wrap around her lungs, making her breath rasp and sweat start to sting her eyes. She absolutely could not be taken captive again. She could never ever let that happen.

As Kehl and Star cast about for a plan, to her horror she could feel the force start to pulse through her uncontrollably and tiny wisps of lightening dance about her finger tips.

'30 Seconds to intercept' she croaked. How easy it would be to pull the approaching TIE fighters right out of the sky and hurl them down to the planet…

'20 seconds' She could barely see the console for the sweat obscuring her vision. She felt herself start to rise in her seat as if someone else was controlling her, pulling her focus inexorably toward the approaching ships. Her hands began to rise, the lightening coming stronger, she could feel the crackle and spark –

-'I have it!' yelled Kehl.

Before either Star or Rune had time to ask exactly what it was Kehl had, he shouted: 'Everyone strap yourself in or hang on to something', broadcasting at the same time over the ship wide alert.

Rune sat back down with a bump. The girls had only seconds to fasten their belts before they were plunged into darkness and their stomachs seemed to crash down through their feet as the whole ship hung unmoving in the air for a split second and then plummeted downwards, falling through the sky, down down down towards the planet. The ship was spinning, flashes of planet and sky and hauler rotating through the view port. For Rune the feeling of claustrophobic, spinning terror brought back far too memories of her time at the hands of the Inquisitors and their inventive ways to torture her. She could only clamp her lips together and try not to scream and scream and scream as she was flung about in her chair.

'Are we hit?' yelled Star, confused by the sudden loss of power.

'No! Switching off the power is the only way to break the imps scanner lock!... I will power up when we hit the planetary traffic.'

'I hope you don't mean that literally' squeaked Star starting to feel rather green from the mad spinning. She fervently hoped that Kehl had accounted for how sickening this ride was. You needed only a most rudimentary knowledge of piloting to know that cold starting a ship was incredibly difficult when you were flat on the ground. Plummeting and spinning crazily through the atmosphere towards a stream of ships that you needed to insert yourself into and fire up the engines to propel yourself forward at the same time, while trying not to vomit could only add several layers of unimaginable difficulty. Star shut her eyes and began to make peace with her maker. At least they wouldn't be taken alive.

Rune was no longer registering anything that the pilots said, and even being flung in all directions while strapped into her seat felt like it was happening at a distance. She had been hit with the appalling, terrifying realisation of just how horribly close she had come to using the dark side to kill a lot of people. Another second and she would have started to harness that power soaring through her. Another two or three seconds and she would have been lost to it. She felt sick and it wasn't just the crazy spinning.

Somehow, using the manual tilts on the ship, Kehl managed to slow the spin and bring the ship on to a more even death-plunge. He managed to get her nose pointing the way he wanted and was heading straight for the major airway out of Worlport. When Star risked opening her eyes to check out why the room wasn't spinning so much she wasn't surprised to see he didn't look even remotely nauseous, in fact he was grinning and looked like he was having the time of his life.

If he pulled this off, he would be drinking out on this story for years to come.

If there was any one left to drink with….

The first thing Inez had Torri do after he had laid the unconscious Six on the med cupboard's bed was to strap him in while she took his pulse. It was a standard precaution, it was a narrow bed, easy for a patient to roll off if they thrashed about or their get-away was a bit rough.

After Kehl's ship wide announcement, Inez had only a moment to thank her instincts in getting Six fastened down first, and cast Torri a look verging on sheer panic. There was nowhere for them to fasten themselves in and judging from Six's weak, thready pulse he needed urgent medical attention. That second of frozen horror was all they had before suddenly they were sliding across the room and crashing into each other in the pitch black. Torri grabbed the part of Inez that cannoned into him (It turned out to be a foot) with his left hand and the leg of the bed with his right as the turning carried on and the room started spinning faster and faster.

It was all he could do to hang onto the bed, but he could feel his grip on it and the tiny woman starting to slip in the chaos. Something whizzed past his head in one direction and then hit him full in the face on the return fall. He could feel the blood trickle down and then up his cheek. His shoulders and arms quickly started to throb in agony as they were thrown in one direction and then another in rapid succession without let up.

His fingers were slipping more, and it was with huge relief he felt Inez hands grab on to him and work their way around his waist. He could feel his grip on the bed was about to go and took the risk of letting go of Inez to transfer his left hand to the bed as well. She didn't go whizzing away, but clung on harder as he fastened his claws securely round the cold metal of the bed. Something sharp edged crashed into his right arm and its already tenuous grip failed. Now his left arm was screaming for release and his shoulders were agony. He fought to get his right hand back on the bed leg and could have wept when his claws closed back around the metal strut. But before he had a second to send up a prayer of thanks he heard a bang that sounded suspiciously like a cupboard door crashing open.

To his horror he was suddenly bombarded with _things_. Soft squishy packages, hard edged metal bowls, boxes big and small. He tried to bring his legs up and make himself smaller, wrapped around Inez to protect her from the flying debris as much as he could. Even though he could see in the dark, he couldn't see anything in this complete absence of light, only the redness of Inez' heat signature. Six, shielded by the bed, he couldn't see at all.

Just as he was thinking this crazy spinning could only end in a fatal crash, the ship started to level out, but no power came on. Inez didn't wait to see if this was only a temporary reprieve, she staggered to her feet and tried to get to Six. Torri did his best to support her.

Like the medcupboard there were straps on all the beds in case of a rough ride, but unlike Inez, Vail didn't think of fastening Dan in. He lowered his brother onto the bunk, and started ripping open drawers until he found their med kit and a bottle of whisky. Then he started peeling Dans armour and boots off. When the alert came, Vail froze for a moment and then made a grab for the straps, but too late. He only had one strap fastened when he was plunged into darkness. As the ship started to tilt, he felt Dan start to slide down under the single strap. He didn't know what to do other than lay on top of him and hang onto the sides of the bed to try and keep his brother from sliding out. As the ship started to spin crazily he quickly realised that he couldn't keep their combined weight on the bed for very long. 'Magnetise' he yelled as the chaos increased. His boots stuck to the nearest metal surface, one on the wall, one on the edge of the bed, giving him atleast a bit more support. His relief was short lived.

The brothers were ex-military and relentlessly tidy, but Vail had just torn through the room looking for medical supplies. Half-closed drawers now slid open releasing clothes, ropes, sheathed hunting knives, camouflage equipment and goodness knew what else into the swirling maelstrom of boots, med-supplies, whisky and armour already developing in the room. Vail tried to keep his head down and protect his semi-conscious brother, but it was only seconds before something heavy and blunt struck him on the brow and sent him into oblivion.

Kehl waited and waited, if he started the ship up too soon and left a trail that the star destroyers could pick up, this mad idea would all be for nought. He was aware that Star had her eyes shut, but he ignored his co-pilot. He needed to focus every ounce of his concentration on pulling off the biggest stunt of his career.

The flyway was rushing up to meet them. In amongst the personal vehicles, people transports and cargo haulers, he spotted two extra large haulers with a decent size gap between them, about one and a half Kraken lengths. It was going to be tight, difficult at speed, very difficult to cold start and manouevere into the gap all the same time, but he had to do it. They couldn't afford to miss the gap or they would be crushed. If the engine didn't fire up and they fell below the traffic stream they would have to be scraped off the desert floor. If the engines came on too soon, above the level of the flyway, they could be quickly picked up by scanners.

No margin for error.

Here goes nothing….

Kehl angled the ship and got ready to cold start. 'Ladies shout out the second _before_ we are level with the flyway'

'Great, no pressure then' muttered Star trying not to freak out. She could see the traffic and the planet below it, rushing towards the viewport. She glanced at Rune and they exchanged a glance before staring at their screens.

'Now' the girls yelled in unison, their hearts in their mouths. It felt like time stood still, for a second they were trapped in a bubble with no time or sound or oxygen.

At the exact second they plummeted through the gap between the two haulers Kehl hit the combination of buttons and levers needed to fire up the engine. And prayed.

And the engines roared into life, with the most beautiful, ear-splitting sound any of them had ever heard.

'Whooohoo' yelled Kehl at the top of his voice, exhilarated by the near-death experience.

As one the three of them remembered to breathe again,dissolving in to laughter and tears and whoops, their lungs aching and adrenalin racing through their veins and making them giddy with the relief.

'I thought we were going to die' laughed Star a little hysterically between gasps for breath.

'Me too!' yelled Kehl 'but we did it! We fragging did it!' They all dissolved into laughter again as if this was the funniest thing they ever heard.

As the laughter died away, Rune looked assessingly at Kehl, he was grinning ear to ear. 'I think you mean you did it Kehl. I think Star and I were just giving moral support. You didn't need us to tell you when to start the engines – you were just keeping us distracted'.

Kehl shrugged and smiled, but volunteered nothing. Rune wondered if he was force sensitive. Not massively, but …..that manoevere…. it wasn't just seat of the pants luck. Kehl had known without doubt when it was the right time.

She looked at him now, steering them quickly into the faster traffic, weaving in and out but not breaking any speed limits, doing all he could to throw the imps off the trail while not causing any new alerts for as long as he could. It was effortless.

'I'll go check on the others' said Rune when she felt steady enough to walk again. Kehl and Star nodded, intent on making their way to the next city and the traffic off planet.

Rune headed for the medcupboard first. To her horror, Inez, looking bloodied and bruised was trying to resuscitate Six with Torri's help, there were random items all over the floor getting in the way and Inez looked frantic.

'What the frag was that? And is it going to happen again?'

'No, stuttered Rune. The imps were locked on, Kehl had to cut the power to lose them. We are on the flyway now, heading for another city – we'll try and get off planet there'.

Inez hurrumphed but said nothing else, her fingers flying over the medical equipment she was using to stabilise Six.

There was no room for Rune and she didn't know how to help if there was. She figured she would help them more by getting out the way. She retreated and went looking for Dan and Vail. That was even more horrifying. Dan was sprawled unconscious in a heap on the floor, Vail was unconscious half on and half off the lower bunk, hanging by his boots which were stuck to the wall. There was clothes and equipment strewn everywhere.

She steeled herself and entered the room, checking their vital signs as best she could. They seemed to be alive, but there was bloody foam around Dans mouth and his breathing was laboured. Then she spotted the knife stuck between his ribs.

She ran as best she could back to the medcupboard.

Six seemed to be breathing on his own again, and Inez was opening the last medpack, Torri was stripping off Six' shirt to expose the damage.

'You gotta help Dan and Vail, they're not conscious, they look bad and Dans been stabbed.'

Inez looked torn at the mentioned of Vails name. But as ishe looked at Six, she knew what her priorities should be.

'Six isn't stable enough for me to leave him.'

Rune looked at Inez' white and frightened face. There was a trickle of blood at her temple. 'Dan is dying, he has a knife between his ribs. I think they may have broken bones, I can't help with that – but this, I might be able to help Six'

'Help him how?' demanded Inez desperately, a note of hope in her voice.

'With the force'

'Can you do that? use the force I mean? And heal someone?

Rune remembered the power surging through her only minutes ago.

'I think so – use the force that is – heal, yes I have done before. But not broken bones, or stab wounds, I think that is beyond me.

'And what if you can't do either?'

'Then I'll shout you back'

Inez clutched the medpack to her chest like a scared child. Rune could see her weighing up if she trusted her, wondering what she should do. The realisation they would all be dead or captured by now if it wasn't for Rune flashed through her eyes. She grabbed Torri, all the medical supplies they could gather from the floor and ran.

Rune stepped tentatively into the suddenly silent medcupboard.

Torri had removed Six's armoured shirt, exposing the skin damaged by the shot that had taken out the armour and the man wearing it.

She took another step forward. To do this she was going to have to touch him. Touch a clone. She was going to have to look into him and heal him. Now that Inez was gone, she wondered if she really could do it. If she could heal a symbol of evil, someone from the same source as those who had hurt her so badly.

She swallowed. And tried to remind herself that Six had proven that he wasn't like them. And she owed him a debt. He had put his own life at risk to rescue her. She owed him this.

Trembling with fear, she reached out and touched the burnt skin. After an instinctive check that he hadn't moved, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She would have tried to relax, but that was never going to happen near a clone.

It was a long long time since she had tried to heal anyone. She hadn't had a lot of practice even back in her old life. Her master had been teaching her the skill, but she had only really got to practice on his arthritis. Once or twice she had practised on a sick villager on a remote planet, to earn some food and fuel as they tried to avoid the imps. There had never been anything serious, but she remembered the sensation of sinking into the flesh, of feeling the cells and knitting them together, repairing them and healing them, of casting out infection.

She cleared her mind and took a deep breath. She looked inside herself, searching for a trace of all the power that had been surging through her only minutes before, knowing that to find an ability anchored in the Jedi way she would have to keep the darkness at bay.

She focused all her attention on the path to the light, and through it to the healing power within her. She felt the force flow through her, like an old friend; but where it naturally wanted to heal her own body, and all the damage she was still recovering from, she needed to direct it away, and towards the clone. Through her fingertips and into it, into the clone, into _him_. She could do this, she had to do this – already she could sense death hovering over him.

Her consciousness spread through his body, feeling her way to his heart and lungs, sensing how rapidly they were failing. Soon it would be too late, his vital organs were shutting down, turning black. Her heart leapt into her mouth. Was she too late? Too weak? The healing energy she was pouring into him wasn't enough to stop his organs failing, time was running out for him and she didn't know what else to do...

**Rebirth**

Xinn watched the Kraken launch itself up into the sky and could have wept.

'Take me to the Command Centre' was all she said to the pilot of the landspeeder.

She spent the journey thinking hard.

Mattesta directed two of the Star Destroyers on to an intercept course with the Shadow Dancer. They were locked on and there was no escape. He spared a triumphant glance at Deckard. Her pupils were dilated with excitement, and there was an attractive flush in her cheeks that made him look at her in a way he had never considered before.

But then everything went wrong and he forgot that moment of connection.

The scanner lock vanished without warning. One minute Target Acquired was flashing in the corner, the next the search screen appeared.

He looked from the screen to Deckard in confusion, marvelleling as she didn't pause for a moment.

'Devastator Report – do you still have the target in lock?'

'Shadow Command, this is Devastator – the lock has gone, we are commencing a scan.'

'Marauder Report – do you have the lock?' there was the tiniest hint of desperation in Deckards usually unflappable voice.

'Shadow Command, this is Marauder – No, we lost it, and we are scanning, but there is no sign of the ship.'

Deckard spared a glance for Petrosk. He shook his head frantically as he pressed his screen in vain. No sign of the ship.

'Ships cant just vanish' gritted Deckard, thinking out loud.

'Any indications of an explosion?' shouted Mattesta, his temper – and his fear – rising.

'None' said Petrosk quietly. They just disappeared – blinked out of existence.'

There was a pause, while everyone's brains tried to figure out what the heck could have just happened. Deckard thought hard. If she was on a ship and it was locked on, what would she do about it…

_Blinked out_

'That's it – they cut the power' yelled Deckard.

'No way' interrupted Mattesta – 'that's suicide. They would fall to the planet and be destroyed.'

'No' breathed Xinn, she had been listening in on her way back to Command.

'Deckards right. That's exactly the kind of stunt Kehl would pull. If any one could cold start in free fall – its him. He's the best pilot I ever met.'

Deckard refrained from saying, _because a street rat like you knows so many pilots._ The woman was standing up for her, there would have to be a truce. Atleast until they were out of this particular life-limiting mess.

To give him his credit, Mattesta didn't waste time arguing. 'Petrosk calculate their trajectory from their last known point as if they fell out of the sky and start scanning for their signature coming back on line. Devastator, Marauder, scan for the power spike from a cold start - have your TIEs head down to the surface.

Petrosk's fingers flew rapidly over his console. The ship would plummet like a stone, there wasn't a lot of complicated physics involved in figuring out where it was going to fall.

'Its coming down right next to a flyover, if it doesn't crash straight through the traffic to its doom then there's four directions the ship could go.

'Five' interjected Deckard, he could try and go back up.

'Maurauder, send four more squadrons of TIEs, I want a squadron monitoring the upcoming traffic, split out the current squadron along the four routes until the others get there as extra coverage. They must be there somewhere' demanded Mattesta. 'Devastator, Marauder take up positions on either side of the up-traffic, I want every ship scanning from all angles to make sure the Shadow Dancer isn't hitching a ride on one of them. No ship leaves the system without a full scan.'

'And get a couple of TIEs to check out below the flybys. They could have dropped straight through and taken cover down there, thinking to wait us out' added Deckard thoughtfully.

'Yes, Deckard send out the ground troops to run a sweep. No one lets up until they are found. I don't need to tell everyone that their escape is not an option here. We will be getting a call from Lord Vader soon enough.' Mattesta glanced around and was glad to see his team keeping their eyes down, their fingers racing across their screens. No one wanted to find out what happened if they failed here.

Mattesta realised he was going to have to update Lockee. His Commanding officer should have been here with them, but was conspicuously absent.

He placed the call and was astonished to be intercepted by Lockees PA.

'I need to talk to the Admiral' demanded Mattesta and was astonished to be told that Lockee was on an important strategy call.

Strategy about what? What could be more important than their lives? The wily old critter was setting them up for the fall. And Mattesta couldn't think of a darn thing he could do about it. He exchanged glances with Deckard, and he could see she was following the same train of thought. She gave him a slight nod. Their only way out of this, was to get the Shadow Dancer.

When Xinn arrived at the command centre, she half expected to be arrested and thrown into a cell. She squared her shoulders and demanded to be taken to Mattesta, like she was visiting royalty. It seemed to work, she was escorted to straight to her handler without question.

It was so strange to walk into the pristine heart of the centre. Mattesta and a man and woman were there. They were all immaculately dressed at their shiny white consoles. The only thing that made her think she was in a place for humans and not robots was the aroma of coffee hanging in the air.

A process of elimination told her the lone woman had to be Deckard, and she had no idea who the young man was, but she guessed it wasn't Lockee.

She gave Deckard her best smile, just to needle her, and strode up to Mattesta with her most confident swagger.

'Officer Xinn sir, reporting for duty.

Mattesta had already detected that Deckard and Xinn hated each other. He saw his deputy stiffen as the undercover operative walked in the room, with her infuriating swagger and broad grin. This was going to be interesting. If they lived long enough to work together after this mission, the two ladies would keep each other on their toes, and off his back. He liked it. He spared a glance for Petrosk. Even he had picked up on the tension in the room.

Still, he needed Xinn to remember who the boss was.

'Officer Xinn, we are not in a good spot right now, I suggest you take a console and get searching. None of us are out of the woods until that ship is acquired.'

Xinn nodded professionally and headed for a console, allowing it to scan her palm print. It knew who she was and granted her access.

There was no escape from this life now.

Thank you so much to Hawkmaid and ColdOnePaul for being so supportive and keeping me going even when times are tough, your reviews and messages really mean a lot.

Next: Rune risks her own life to save Six, as Mattesta, Deckard and Xinn try desperately to save their own lives by capturing the Kraken,


	14. Chapter 14

**Chaos Theory**

Rune tried to remain focused as she worked to stop death spreading through Sixes body. His cells were shutting down in an inexorable tide of atrophy and nothing she did was having any impact at all. She could feel the panic rising inside of her, stealthy now in the corners of her mind. Panic was just one facet of that ever-encroaching blackness. If she gave in to it, any ability to heal would leave her. The dark side was not a healing force. It was a death bringer.

And thinking like that only made her want to panic all the more. She tried to remember, what would her old Master say to her….?

She knew the answer as if he were still at her side: he would tell her to breathe….

And stop overthinking it.

He had never been one for flashy displays, he had been stolid and steady. It was, she suspected, why he had stayed away from Coruscant as much as he could, and why his foretelling had been largely ignored by the Council. And yet the Master that she knew had never been wrong. And she needed his strength now more than ever.

She made herself stop and take a deep, calming breath to centre herself, to let the force flow through her, and become one with it.

In a rush, Sixes body began to shut down faster and faster, but she completed the breath. She remembered all that power that had welled up inside her when she thought about hurling those TIEs out of the sky. When she was angry and afraid. She _did_ have the power, she just needed to find it when she was calm. She took another deep, grounding, breath, knowing that Six was on the brink of death but not reacting to it, centering only on the force. And suddenly the raw power was there, surging through her like a tidal wave, almost out of control.

She breathed again, and didn't try to contain it but gave it focus, channelling it through Sixes broken body. It encompassed him in a lifegiving tsunami of the force, breathing warmth back into the dying cells. It felt so easy, so natural, as she flooded the living force into him, driving the darkness back from both of them.

She could see the damage in his cells, the shock of the blast that had fatally damaged his heart and lungs. She could see how to repair the injury and knit the cells back together. The force worked its miracle, spreading through his body in a beautiful rush of healing, restoring the colour and life. She felt as his breathing became easier, as the oxygen he was straining for, flooded into his bloodstream and through his cells, as the shock in his body eased and his natural healing process kick-started.

Only as she was gently pulling back did she recognise the danger; her energy was failing and dark shadows hovered at the edge of her vision. She had over stretched her weakened body, and now she was falling, falling into a new blackness. And there was no one there to catch her.

Kehl and Star had made it to the outskirts of the next city. Though they hardly dare believe they could make it, the signal to turn off and join the flow for the upstream traffic was right ahead. There had been several TIEs fly overhead as they had left Worlport behind, but none had paid the ship any special attention in amongst the hundreds of other ships, air cars and haulers travelling the flyway. They hadn't seen a TIE for over a minute now. Kehl angled the Shadow Dancer undetected into the busy stream of traffic heading up and off planet and increased the thrust.

There was only one Star Destroyer, the Vulcan, hovering over this city, unlike the multiple capital ships constantly hovering over their heads at Worlport. Even so, as the Kraken started her ascent, the sight of the triangular monster wallowing comfortably on the edge of the outer atmosphere, was an imposing sight. A passive scan indicated It didn't appear to be on high alert and there was no sign of any unusual activity in the lazy TIE patrols screaming past, but it was surely only a matter of time…

The Vulcan loomed menacingly larger as they closed the distance, revealing the detail of the underside. All the countless tie fighter bays, weapons and docking ports. Star hardly dare breathe, as if somehow even the slightest movement could bring them to the imps attention. The route through the atmosphere took them well within firing and tractor range. What if this was a trap and the imps were just luring them in?

Kehl winked at Star reassuringly. He just needed to fly cool.

Inez was horrified at the sight of Dan and Vail unconscious in their berth. Her instinct was to run to Vail, the man she loved, but she forced herself to remain objective. She could see at a glance that Rune's assessment had been correct, Dan was seriously injured. His breaths were laboured and the foam around his mouth was flecked with blood. She would need her last med-pack and more, but none of that mattered until she had removed the blade.

'Torri' she yelled, 'go release Vail from his stupid favourite boots and get him back on the bed, strap him in.'

The injured, exhausted part of her wanted to just give up. This felt like too much weight on her tiny shoulders. Too many lives at stake. And yet, if she gave up, what would become of them? She was the only one who had a chance to save her crew mates and friends.

She took a breath and forced herself to carry on, methodically working through the steps to treat a knife wound as fast as she could. Refusing to give in to the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. She bent over Dan, cautiously pushing his shirt to one side, assessing the angle of entry and damage.

It was a clean wound, the knife seemed to be stopping the external bleeding, but once she started to pull it out she knew all that would change.

She needed to pull it out at exactly the angle it went in to minimise the damage. That was going to be tricky. Steeling herself, she began a gentle pull on the blade. Nothing happened. She ramped up the pressure just a little. The knife moved the tiniest amount and she felt the catch of the serrated blade hitting bone, and was rewarded with the sight of bright red blood seeping out of the wound…

With gritted teeth she pulled harder trying to ignore the sickening sensation of the knife grating against bone and cartilage. She swallowed, the bile rising up her throat, and gradually increased the pressure. Her stomach churned, but she couldn't afford to stop now, the redness was spreading faster across Dan's shirt as the weapon reluctantly loosened its grip. The blood loss would kill the hunter if she didn't get it out quickly.

She ramped up the pressure one more notch and with a sickening sucking sound that nauseated her to her core, the blade came free in a rush, releasing a spray of bright red oxygenated blood from the entry wound. She felt it hot and delicate across her face, but she couldn't stop to wipe it away now, Dans blood was spurting from the wound and she needed to get a dressing on fast.

She clamped a pad over it while she wrestled to get the med-pac into position. She was relieved to hear Dan's breathing ease a little once the blade was removed, but the dressing was drenched in blood in seconds.

She already knew one med-pack wasn't going to be enough for this. It might just be enough to stop the bleeding but it wasn't going to seal the wound up. Infection was going to be a huge risk.

With a breath and a prayer she shoved the med-pac in the place of the sopping dressing and activated it, only then sparing a glance for Torri and Vail as she waited for it to take effect.

Torri had released the hunter and laid him back up on his bed. The movement had awoken Vail and he was groaning, lifting an arm to the huge swelling on his forehead, and causing a cut on his bicep to reopen and start oozing blood.

'What the frag is going o - oh' he started, his memory returning –'Dan, Dan, is he alright?' Vail tried to sit up so he could get to his brother and Inez, but he was weak and dizzy and Torri pushed him back down easily. Vail looked around in surprise, struggling to focus on the shimmering creature before him.

Concussion, thought Inez, gently holding Dan's med-pack in place. She couldn't bring herself to answer Vail's question just yet, she had no idea what the answer was going to be.

'Torri, strap Vail in and go check on Six, then come back, I'm gonna need some help with Dan.'

'Frag it Inez, tell me how my brother is' demanded Vail, but his words were slowing down, slurring as his hold on consciousness began to slip away.

Inez surveyed the chaos in the room. What was happening to them? Only a few hours ago everything had been going so well… That euphoric feeling when they made contact with the cell felt like half a life time ago.

And it was all Xinns fault, that traitorous snake….

Torri staggered to the med-cupboard, his arms and shoulders were throbbing, he still felt shaky from the spinning and plummeting, and they were not safe yet. What he really wanted was to sit down with a cup of Inez' reviving tea.

What he found in the med-cupboard made him forget his own aches and pains.

Rune was sprawled unconscious on the floor and Six was stirring, thrashing weak and uncoordinated against the bonds that held him onto the bed. He was undoubtedly in a lot better condition that he had been only minutes ago.

Torri scooped Rune up from the floor but then didn't know what to do with her, there was nowhere to lay her down.

'Let me out of this' grunted Six, rapidly becoming more coherent and exponentially grouchier.

Torri gently put Rune over his shoulder and released Six. As he had hoped, the clone forced himself to his feet. His knees buckled, but sheer willpower kept him upright. Torri wasted no time in laying Rune on the spot Six had just vacated and strapping her in.

'What the frag is going on?' demanded Six, unconsciously echoing Vail. He rolled his shoulders and back at the unexpected stiffness and rested a hand against the bed for support.

'Long story, emergency status' blurted Torri looking up and down Rune in confusion. He couldn't see any injury but Rune was not responsive and her breathing was shallow. He daren't call Inez away from Dan, but didn't know how to help her himself.

'Why isn't she conscious?' demanded Six 'And where's Inez?' his voice held the tiniest hint of desperation.

Torri looked at him – where to start? 'We were betrayed'

Six gasped, hit by a flood of realisation 'I, I remember – I was shot. Rune, she…she picked me up, last thing I remember is flying towards the Kraken. For frags sake Torri, what's _happening_.' He looked around at the wrecked med-cupboard and obvious lack of Inez in bewilderment, then tried to focus on the creature in front of him.

Torri tried to martial his thoughts in a way that would get Rune help the quickest.

'You were unconscious, Dan badly injured, Vail hurt too. Rune stayed to heal you while Inez went to remove the knife from Dan. Just found you awake and her on the floor'

The field medic in Six took over and he immediately started to take Runes pulse, checking her blood pressure. 'How the heck did Dan get knifed? Last I checked troopers don't attack with knives.'

'It's a long story, just believe it'

'Roger that, her blood pressures dangerously low, we need a med pack'

'All gone' said Torri economically.

'Ok' gritted Six, forcing the panic down and trying to remember his field medic training. She's fading, but I don't detect any injury. She's so malnourished, using the force on me must've used up what little energy she had to start with. I need to get some nutrients into her. Maybe a drip…' he muttered to himself, it was all he could think of. He rushed to cupboard and stared in incomprehension at the empty shelves. 'What the-?'

'Emergency black out, we lost power, the cupboard came unfastened and' Torri gave a swiping motion with his large hand to indicate the debris all over the floor, but Six had already made the connection.

Six realised now was not the time to question, but someone was going to have a lot of explaining to do _real_ soon. He started rummaging through the items at his feet and after a few seconds grunted in triumph at finding a bag of liquid. He raced to the drawer where the needles were kept, exhaling in relief at finding its precious contents still in place. In short order he had the drip inserted, Torri had unbent the stand that held it, and the drip had started to pump nutrients into the unconscious girl.

Six wished for the umpteenth time he could afford the latest med equipment so he didn't have to keep this old, but infinitely cheaper – tech as back up. But for now it was going to have to do. A current of dread ran through his gut at that thought, credits were going to be a huge issue after this disaster – but he couldn't let him think about that right now.

Torri suddenly remembered Inez instruction to return and watch over Vail. 'Inez told me to come straight back to help her', he said as he backed out of the tiny room.

'Roger that, but you stay here, I will go' said Six casting about for the blood pressure monitor, eventually finding it wrapped around a bed leg. A quick check indicated it was still working. He put it easily onto Runes skinny arm, and set it going on the monitor setting.

'Torri, if the monitor beeps come and get me straight away. It could mean her heart is failing ok?'

Torri nodded invisibly, and then added a gruff 'yes' as Six was already heading out the door and down to the brother's quarters.

An even worse state of disarray greeted Six here, as he paused to take a laboured breath in the doorway.

There was equipment everywhere, and Six immediately realised that the knife damage had been done on board. No one had escaped unscathed – Inez and Vail were both bleeding from head wounds, but Dan's front was covered in a spreading tide of blood.

'Inez' he gasped after that momentary pause. 'What the frag?' He really was going to have to find a different question, this was getting old.

She whipped around, her face white and strained under streaks of blood. Vail, also stirred at his voice and opened bleary eyes.

'Is he ok?'

Inez shrugged, her eyes sliding to Vail. 'I need to give the medpac another minute then I will have a look.'

'How bout you man?' demanded Vail weakly 'you were shot'

'Yeah, Rune saved me, but she nearly killed herself in the process. She's unconscious, Torri's with her. What's with you?'

'Concussion I think' interjected Inez, 'and various wounds from flying debris'.

'I'll be fine, what I need to know is how is _Dan_' Vail was starting to get restless, struggling against his bonds. 'Six let me outta here'

Six cast a glance at Inez, but Vail wasn't a prisoner and if he was awake enough to ask to be released then he didn't have much choice.

Inez held up a staying hand and she spoke over the comm. 'Kehl – are we gonna go through another black out?'

Kehls voice came over the com 'We are entering the outer atmosphere – so no more black outs. We either jump, or…it's all over. We'll find out in about 2 minutes 45 seconds'

Inez bit her lip and bent her head over the medpack. Six released Vail in silence and then steadied himself against the bunk, his head swimming, as Vail crawled over to his brother.

'Six, sit on the floor with your head between your knees.' Instructed Inez, it hadn't escaped her that he had gone a very odd shade of grey. You were dying five minutes ago, you should be resting not running around. Adrenalin will only get you so far.

'Hey if Rune can heal you need to get her in here right now, one med-pacs not gonna do the trick' demanded Vail belligerently as he stared appalled at the swathes of blood decorating his brother.

'Didn't you hear what I said – she's unconscious'. Six closed his eyes, feeling incredibly weary.

'Then wake her up' yelled Vail. 'Dan is dying''

'No! No, he's not blurted Inez, trying to calm her voice before a row erupted. The bleedings stopped, the medpac worked that far atleast. We need to dress the wound now and hope there's no infection.'

Vail grunted, but he didn't look appeased, his fear for his brother combined with his concussion was making him light headed and fractious.

Inez stared at the two strapping men, there was no way she could move either, but move they must. She thought Vail was probably the most mobile of the two, just because of the fear and anger he was feeling right now, but there wasn't much in it.

'Vail help me get Dan on the bed.'

Vail glared at Inez, but did as the tiny woman asked. Though a couple of times Inez feared he was going to fall himself, Vail somehow managed to manoeuvre his huge brother onto the low bunk.

She strapped Dan in rapidly. 'Six you need to stand up, Vail you need help Six get to his berth'

Vail took a breath. Even in his confused state he knew that was a big ask. He had gone extremely pail since getting Dan onto the bed and various cuts on his face and arms were oozing blood. But he didn't argue. As Six flailed about trying to get to his feet, Vail grabbed his arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, then they staggered down the hall together, leaning into each other to prop themselves up. They manoeuvred awkwardly into Sixes berth and Vail lowered him jerkily. Six half fell on to the bed but managed to ease himself into a relatively comfortable position though the room was swimming around above him. He closed his eyes feeling sick.

'Vail, I think you had better lie down here next to Six, before you pass out.'

Vail began to interrupt and Inez guessed he was going to say he needed to be with Dan, but she gave him a shove and he sat down abruptly. Quick as a flash she pivoted him around and laid him down. She might be tiny but she understood pivoting. The rapid movement was enough to rob Vail of his balance and he lay down next to Six without further argument, mainly because he didn't think he could stand up right now. 'We're fine, go check on Dan' he slurred and closed his eyes.

'Don't go to sleep Vail' yelled Inez fruitlessly, backing out of the room to hurry to the med-cupboard. Rune was unconscious, Torri was attempting a clear up operation.

She scrabbled around on the floor until she found a packet of dressings and some antibac solution for Dan. It was a hunting knife she had removed from his side. She had a horrible feeling infection was guaranteed.

'Kehl' she said over the com system. 'How we doin'?'

'Calculating the jump' he said, a note of triumph in his voice.

'Star go to Sixes berth and make Vail stay awake until I have checked his head wounds. Kehl - take us to Homestead' commanded Inez. She was amazed at how in control her own voice sounded.

'What? But Xinn knows where Homestead is'

'She does, but she doesn't know we have left the planet yet, and our drive is faster than a standard imp drive. We have a little time. And there is something very important we need to do'

'But-'

'That's an order Kehl, make the calc.'

'Roger that' responded Kehl after a few tense moments. The comm went silent and a minute later the stars blurred and the Kraken made its final jump to Homestead.

The trip back to Homestead was no longer such a long one, but it was exhausting for Inez. She moved between her three groups of patients, checking their vital signs, hoping for no more drama. Six was the first to regain his sensibilities, Vail not long after. They both looked somewhat the worse for wear, but Vail in particular was looking much better for a few hours sleep. He had lost his deathly pallour, and his eyes were focused. Inez set him on applying cooling compresses to his brothers head and knife wound, Six she sent to sit with Rune so that Star and Torri could have a short break. She was worried, Dan was already showing signs of developing a fever, and they had used the last of the drips. She shut the door on the med cupboard so no one else could hear and gave Six a run- down of their situation.

Six listened gravely. He understood and agreed with Inez decision to return briefly to Homestead. But directly after they had to do something about their current predicament – with injured crew, virtually no medical supplies, no money and no ID, their options were limited. What they would have was the items they had stored on Homestead that Star had earmarked for use on the Kraken as and when required. These would have to be sold or traded. New ID and medical supplies were essential. Six could still hardly comprehend that Xinn had betrayed them. All that money spent on Runes ID was wasted, and the credits required to replace the whole crews ID as well as two ship IDs was astronomical. Where did they go from here? Was their contribution to the fledgling rebellion over?

Six hung his head in his hands and told Inez to get some rest til they arrived. He had some thinking to do….

Rune came around slowly. To her horror, her surroundings were all too familiar. She was back in the med cupboard strapped to the bed. The only difference was…someone was holding her hand, she was not alone.

She got a further shock when she realised, sat at her side with a bowed head was Six. She expected to feel a rush of fear, but the reaction didn't come. She felt content to leave her hand in his as she slid back into unconsciousness.

As the Kraken emerged from hyperspace above Homestead, Inez had the crew, such as it was, at the ready by the exit ramp.

Six left Rune's side reluctantly, afraid to leave her in case she awoke alone in the med-cupboard. But he hadn't seen any signs of her waking, and he knew from the plan that Inez had recounted to him that every pair of hands counted.

Dan was in and out of consciousness, but Vail had managed to explain to him what he had to do, and Dan had told him he must.

Star and Kehl were up in the cockpit, Kehl scanned for tech and then set direct course for their hanger, no time for scenic tours today.

As soon as they touched down he and Star headed out into the hangar and began loading all their spare equipment and belongings up the ramp and into the hold.

Torri and Inez, accompanied by the battered Vail and Six had a different task.

Inez had chosen the spot carefully and the team began to dig. While Torri was the most able, Vail and Six were determined that they would take part in this most important task.

Once the excavating was done, Star and Kehl, supporting Dan on a repulsorlift platform joined them.

Then Six carefully fetched Kits body, wrapped in a shroud. He held the slight form close, and could hardly bear to give it up to the earth. And yet he knew what he must do, so he oh-so-gently lowered Kit into the ground, his tears moistening the dry earth.

He stepped back from the edge of the grave and looked around his crew, all with tearstained faces, grief lining their brows.

He marshalled his voice, a little more hoarse than usual.

'Kit we have brought you here so that you can rest peacefully in the place we all think of as home. The place that holds our very happiest memories. When we think of you every day, we will think of you here, laughing, smiling. We will think of good times. We will remember you as our beloved boy and as a hero. You wanted only the best for everyone. One day..' his voice hitched..'one day we will come back here for you, but you will never be alone, you will always be in our thoughts Kit. Rest in peace.

Six threw a handful of earth onto Kits shroud, and his companions followed suit.

Their tears said more than any amount of words could do. They could spare only moments, then they filled the earth back in, replanted the fruit bush along with a rounded stone that Kit liked to sit on in the evenings. Vail had etched his name on it and they placed it as a headstone under the bush.

Then Inez placed the luridly coloured sleep suit she had made for Xinn partially under it so it couldn't blow away. 'Times Up' she said stoutly after a further moment.

Suddenly eager to be gone, Inez task done, they hurried to the ship and Kehl took them up to the stars, firing on the little early warning satellite as he went.

Back on board, no one could settle. The memory of Kit haunted them. They felt such anger toward Xinn, atleast Inez' parting gift to her felt like something, a stand, a chance to show her what they thought of her.

Kehl laid in the course as directed by Six, and then Six headed for the med-cupboard. It was as good a place as any to sit and figure out what they were going to do next. He didn't like where they were heading, but what else could they do? He couldn't call up Contact, Xinn was bound to have planted bugs in their comms system as well as a tracker on the Kraken. Now that they had visited Homestead, which they wanted Xinn to know about, it was time for Star to carry out the hard work of finding all the bugs that Xinn had planted in their systems – starting with the tracker. Xinn had proven time and time again she was sly, and she was good at strategy. Six wished he had Kit. As good as Star was at engineering, when it came to tech like this, there was only Kit he would trust to tell him that all Xinns bugs were found and destroyed.

They might have escaped Ord Mantell, but they weren't out of the woods yet. They were going to have to be on high alert for a long time to come.

It was as he was thinking these deep dark thoughts, that he felt Rune stir. He had held her hand for comfort, thinking maybe she would know and appreciate that she was not alone. Now that she was on the verge of waking, he froze with terror. He daren't move in case that woke her, but he dreaded her waking and finding him there. He couldn't forget that terrified scream when she saw him. He couldn't bear to hear that again. Even as he was panicking, caught in the dilemma of what to do, he saw her eyes open, she was looking straight at him.

He stood up abruptly, backing away from her. 'Sorry, I'm just leaving' he blurted, hating how guilty he sounded. He knew Inez would have something to say about that.

'Stay' Her voice was so weak, at first he thought he had misheard her.

'You're…..sure?'

She nodded, and closed her eyes, exhausted, but she held her fingers open as if waiting for him to put his hand back in hers.

Tentatively, he moved his fingertips against hers. She didn't react, she didn't scream or call for help. He slowly took her tiny hand inside his own large grasp, his broad, work-worn fingers encircling her bony hand completely.

She closed her eyes, she looked so tiny and so defenceless.

'You saved me?' he almost didn't say it out loud. He was so confused, he couldn't quite believe she had accepted him like this, at her most vulnerable. He was aware of a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, a mixture of desperate yearning for the old days, running with the Jedi and a strange desire to be with her and never leave her side. He didn't want this moment to end.

She roused a little and looked directly at him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lips had a tinge of blue, but her gaze was alert enough. She cleared her throat hoarsely and he held a glass of water to her lips.

She drank a little and thanked him quietly. He didn't think she was going to reply to his question, but suddenly she spoke up. 'The Inquisitors taught me better than I knew. I didn't see it back then. But when I was meditating on Homestead I began to understand how deeply they rooted the ways of the dark side in me without me even knowing. I was so busy resisting them I didn't see that they were winning anyway. I don't even think they knew they were winning…'

Buts it's the fear and mistrust they taught me. They are steps on the path to the dark side. Seeing your crew in action on Ord Mantell showed me there is greater strength in unity and trust. When I reject you because of what happened when I was imprisoned, I –' she faltered a little. 'I take another step away from the light.'

Her voice tailed off a little, and she added quietly: 'I stand at a cross roads, maybe if I can trust again, the darkness won't catch me. I don't know. But now there is hope, where before I had none.'

'You saved us, it's not too late-' began Six, but she had already closed her eyes, and let herself slide back into unconsciousness.

She awoke abruptly to the sounds of an argument. Not unusual on this ship, but it sounded as if Vail was shouting at Inez and Six right outside the med-cupboard door.

'You should have got her to heal Dan, he's hurt worse than Six. If you had used her for Dan he wouldn't have this infection right now.

'Dan you don't know that' protested Inez shrilly.

'Of course he wouldn't have, look Six is right as rain now. And Dan wouldn't have got an infection now.

'No, but SIx would be dead now'

'You don't know that and Dan is dying _now_'

'I do know that. Six was dying. If he hadn't been healed straight away he would have died. One med-pac might not have been enough and then they both would have died then and there. We didn't know if Rune could heal at all, but we did know she didn't know how to remove the knife. If she'd just yanked it out and then he bled out because she couldn't heal fast enough he would've died.'

'You must have known she could heal or you would never have left Six, he's the Captain you were always going to prioritise him, but this time you were wrong.'

'I was not wro-'

'Stop it!' Interrupted Six furiously. 'We are doing everything we can to save Dan. Inez did what she could with multiple wounded and limited medical supplies. She kept Dan alive long enough for us to try and get more supplies. You should be grateful, not shouting at her.'

Everyone on board listening, heard the silent 'well she kept you alive atleast', but even Vail was sensible enough not to say it out loud.

'Let's go and get some tea and talk in the mess, the corridor is not the place for this argument'. Rune half expected Vail to start shouting at Inez again but she heard only a grunt and the sound of their footsteps moving away.

Rune realised that she had to do something. She couldn't let Inez take the blame for this. It was her suggestion that she try and heal Six while Inez saw to Dan. Inez had been reluctant. She unfastened herself and very slowly sat up. There was no pain, but she felt overwhelmingly exhausted and dizzy. She slid her legs round and stretched out with her bare feet until they touched the cold floor. She stood slowly and once she had her balance, she crept down the hall way towards Dan's berth, hugging the walls for support. There was no sign of the combatants, she guessed they had made it to the mess without coming to blows at least. The room was spinning around, but she staggered across the open expanse of undulating floor until she reached Dan's side. She took in the fevered sweat on his brow, the heat radiating from his body, and the sweat soaked sheets with dismay. It was pretty bad. She tentatively reached out and touched the skin around the wound. It had a dressing over it but the flesh around it was shockingly hot. Dan was oblivious to her, caught in a feverish vision that caused him to cry out from time to time and whimper pitifully.

She sat on the floor next to him and leant on the edge of the bed so that she had to use as little of her energy for staying upright as possible. Then she gently peeled back the dressing. The wound was bright red and puss was oozing out of it. She didn't need to be medically trained to see that the infection had a firm grip and his body was failing to fight back.

Carefully she lay her hands on the skin around the wound and adjusted her position until she was as comfortable as she could be. Then she took a long, deep breath. It seemed easier this time, to feel the force flowing through her. There was no panic, no rush, she just gently let her awareness find the wound and then sink inside, deeper and deeper, to the seat of the infection. She hadn't dealt with this kind of injury before, but some part of her seemed to know what to do, as if her Master was somewhere guiding her. This wasn't about pouring a wave of healing into him, this was delicate, concentrated work. Slowly at first and then with increasing confidence she forced the pus and dead cells up and out through the wound, from the very deepest parts of the infection. Carefully, working from there out, she cooled and cleansed the angry redness away and knitted the living cells back together so that the infection couldn't worm its way back in.

For a little while she was engrossed in the detailed work, hunting out every corner of infection left by the serrated blade, but she became aware that her consciousness was fading. Her limited energy was failing and she wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer. Certainly not long enough to finish the job. She made a quick decision, the main thing was to get rid of the infection, even if she couldn't close the wound completely. She gave a final burst of power driving out the decaying matter, and felt an all too familiar wave of darkness hit her with terrifying finality. She slowly slid down the side of the bed, but she was unconscious long before she hit the floor.

Vail was the first to find her and the guilt hit him with the force of a power droid surge. He had been shouting right outside her door, what else did he expect? She was a Jedi, wasn't Six always carping on about all their good, self-sacrificing heroics. She was never going to ignore his words, was she? Deep down, hadn't he known that when he picked that exact spot to start a row?

He was already feeling guilty about the horrible things he had said to Inez. He hadn't really meant to blame her, but who else could he shout at? He had just wanted to let out some of the anger and frustration borne of his own helplessness. He hadn't wanted to hurt the person who had helped him and supported him so many times. Something inside knew that Inez had left Six's side in an emergency because she wanted to make sure he, Vail, was ok. And this was how he repaid her for that concern. He threw her concern for him in her face. And now he had probably killed the tame Jedi. Six would never ever forgive him for that.

He shouted for help, picked up the tiny body of the girl and rushed her back to the med-cupboard.

But even as he did, he knew there was no help for her there – all the medical supplies were gone. He really had gone too far this time.

Chapter 26

**Exodus**

Deckard was frantic. No one had believed that any pilot could pull off a freefall and cold start in mid-air and vanish without a trace. And yet if the ship had crash landed, an explosion of that magnitude would have been detected. TIEs and ground troops had searched the area where the ship could have hidden, and found nothing. The only explanation was the ship had managed to cold start as it fell through the streams of traffic, that was the only place where the power signatures of so many vehicles in such a concentrated area could have covered the Shadow Dancers tracks. Surely no one could pull off a stunt like that! And yet… Deckard's brain worked the problem. What was that old Jedi saying? When you have eliminated the impossible, what is left has to contain the answer…..There was nowhere else to hide the ships signature other than in that traffic. So either it powered up in the traffic or it managed to land on one of the massive haulers without destroying both vehicles in the process. Either way, that ship was on its way far far away from Worlport.

She looked at her colleagues staring at their consoles like they could wish the ship into existance. 'They're gone' she said with finality.

'They can't have' said Mattesta. His voice was so low his crew could hardly hear him.

'They have.'

'I agree. We have to face facts, they're long gone. But I think I know where they will go' declared Xinn. 'Remember, the Jedi and Defel didn't come to the planet, so the crew will have to go fetch them'.

'You said you didn't know where they were' said Mattesta stiffly.

'I didn't say that, I just didn't tell you where they were.' Mattesta had to admit to himself that he had suspected as much.

'So?' Deckard had no patience for posturing right now.

'They are on Homestead and we need to get there first so we can pick up the prisoners before they do.'

'Then what are we waiting for, let's go' ordered Mattesta. 'Make the arrangements for immediate evac Deckard, I need to report to Lockee'

Deckard nodded and wondered how Lockee would take this piece of news. Since Tatooine Lockee had had as little to do with the Mission as possible. The rumours about the untimely and particularly gruesome demise of Admiral Tymbala and his navigator from the Vanquish had been rife. Everyone knew they had been terminally punished by Vader. It had been a dose of reality for Lockee who had aspired for so long to join the uppermost echelons of the Empire. He wasn't going to do that by failing at this task. Cunning as he was, he quickly realised that rather than being a boon that had fallen into his lap, an escaped Jedi was more of a thermal detonator. Now he was backing away from responsibility as fast as he could.

Deckard gave the order to the bridge for immediate lift off, her brain focused on the problem. They had failed but they needed to at least know _why_ if they were going to defend themselves from Vader's displeasure. She didn't think he would punish them if they hadn't done anything wrong. The questions was, had they?

She turned back to the tiny team. 'Petrosk keep analysing the data, I still want to know for sure how that ship got out of scanner lock and away. Xinn, you and I are going to look at what happened on the ground before that. I thought we had them – the Commander was incapacitated on the floor – I want to know how he – and the crew got away'.

'I'll say aye to that' said Xinn with steely determination. She had been looking forward to having Six at her mercy for a change.

As soon as Xinn saw the satellite dish was destroyed she knew they were too late, but they landed anyway. It took no time to see the hangar was cleared out of equipment, but something drew her outside. She headed to her fruit bushes as if by instinct.

She saw the flash of colour before the disturbed earth and crude headstone. She picked up her sleepsuit gingerly, even though her data pads energy reading told her there was no thermal detonator hidden there. She had no doubt the crew thought she deserved one. She shook out the sleep suit, brushing the bits of dirt, leaf and twig from it. And that's when she saw the message embroidered across the front, no doubt by Inez' fair hand.

Murderer.

So that's what they thought of her. Well they weren't wrong. And no doubt she would be responsible for the rest of their deaths soon enough. She had planted enough bugs on that ship that they would never find them all in time. She grinned as she looked down at Kits grave. She regretted shooting him on one level, the boy had followed her around like a faithful puppy, but on the other hand, he was the only one who could have found what she had done. Without him, the crews fate and her bright future was sealed.

Vader surveyed the faces of Lockee, Mattesta and Deckard for a few moments without speaking. Deckard swallowed reflexively. Her throat felt tight, even though she knew it wasn't really. She needed to keep the panic at bay. The Sith Lord would sense her fear if she let it out.

'Lockee Report' he said eventually, when he could see the sweat on their brows even via the medium of the holoprojector.

Lockee cleared his suddenly dry throat and looked to his second. 'Mattesta, report to Lord Vader the position of your task force'

To his credit, Mattesta straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. In that moment Deckard approved of him more than she ever had.

'My Lord, the rebels stumbled upon Xinn as she met her handler and unfortunately there was an altercation and one of their crew was killed. They started to evac back to their ship. We made it to the Shadow Dancer's bay before they did, but the ship had already taken off and was able to pick them up and leave the planet.

'And you weren't able to stop one tiny freighter with a fleet of star destroyers at your disposal?'

'My Lord, we too were puzzled by that' agreed Mattesta confidently. He turned to Deckard and nodded.

She gritted her teeth and stepped forward, but Vader didn't strike her dead across the vacuum of space. She kept an earnest expression on her face and kept her thoughts focused only on her report.

'I analysed the footage of the escape. The troops did in fact arrive in time at the second hanger bay to stop the escapees. They fired in formation and were able to take down their commander, a former clone trooper. His crew lay down a suppressing fire, but our troops were arriving in force and successfully pinned them down. The ship should have taken off at that point, our troops were closing in on foot, plus our airships were almost in range. But they didn't leave – our Agent Xinn has confirmed the loyalty of the crew. They wouldn't have wanted to leave their Commander behind, a fatal mistake. So the question is, what went wrong?

'Indeed it is' agreed the Sith Lord without inflection

'It has been very difficult to pinpoint what did happen. The ship did take off, and it didn't leave behind the commander. This seemed impossible when our troops had reached his body and were securing it. Despite this the ship did take off and the troopers closeness meant some were killed in the blast from the engines, most from the ships guns. Those that did survive were at the rear and simply didn't see what happened. However, I have managed to recover some interesting helmet footage from the troopers closest to the blast.' She swiped an icon, praying the footage would play out as she had programmed it. Sure enough, some brief and blurry footage appeared, showing the commander being lifted into thin air and whisked across to the ship. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Vader's still form shift. She had his interest.

This was what many of the troopers focused on at the time, but I went through every single camera that transmitted, and eventually I found that one trooper was trying to figure out what was causing this phenomenon. I got this tiny, but telling clip'. The inquisitive trooper's cameras had swept up the ships entrance ramp at the same time that the other troopers had been looking at the clone's body flying through the air. You could just make out a slight figure at the top of the ramp, hands extended, gesturing as if to beckon the body inside. The next second the angle changed sharply as the trooper was hit and went down. But just for that split second they had one clear image.

Deckard ran the two pieces of footage parallel to each other, matching their time stamps.

Seen together it was clear that the figure was the cause of the clone's body flying through the air and into the ship.

Vader harrumphed. 'The Jedi prisoner.'

'Yes, the interesting thing is, she wasn't brought to the planet, she was left behind. The reason the ship was not in the bay where it was supposed to be must have been because some of the crew went to fetch her. But why? Why the change of plan?

Did she foresee the death of the hacker and the successful capture of the crew? Did she come to stop it?'

Deckard paused for effect and to check that Vader was still listening closely.

He was.

'My Lord, if that is the case then she is going to be much harder to capture than we originally thought as she has been completely inactive. We have Xinns trackers on board, and are confidence we can follow them anywhere, but if she is using her Jedi powers to thwart us they may not be enough.'

Deckard daren't look at Mattesta. They had discussed this at great length, they needed a way to distract Vader from murdering them, and their only hope was to put the blame on the Jedi's shoulders. No matter how competent they were, they couldn't hope to best a force user. Surely Vader, being one himself, would believe that implicitly. It was Deckard who had come up with the idea of pretending that the Jedi had seen the future. She was reluctant to say anything to Vader that even hinted she might know something about the Jedi, but at this point it was more important to survive. Even though she didn't think it could be true when she came up with the idea, it had certainly sounded logical. She more than anyone had an idea of the kinds of things Jedi used to be capable of. Now, looking at Vader's reaction, or lack thereof, she began to wonder if she had accidentally hit the nail on the head.

Vader hadn't made any attempt to refute the suggestion of foreseeing. Deckard stayed very still.

Instead of pursuing this line of thought further, Vader suddenly changed tack and asked what the next steps were.

After a pause where Lockee noticeably didn't jump in, Mattesta explained that the trackers on the Shadow Dancer were dormant and would stay that way if Xinn entered the passcode every 48 hours. When they didn't get the passcode in 3 hours time the first one would start transmitting. At that point they would follow it with the six capital ships at their disposal. 'They must be running low on supplies and credits, we think they will try to sell what they have to buy new ID, therefore some kind of black market outpost.' He didn't mention the trip to Homestead, and how mad Xinn had been.

Vader nodded thoughtfully. 'I will assign you an Inquisitor to deal with the Jedi when you catch up with her. Lockee, what do you have to say for yourself?' he added unexpectedly.

Lockee jumped, clearly thinking he had skilfully evaded the firing line. 'I am currently freeing up some more ships to join the hunt.'

Mattesta scowled. The man lied so easily, he was going to get away with doing nothing.

'It seems to be a little late for that' Vader's voice was soft.

Deckard watched as Lockee ran a finger around his collar as if it was a trifle too tight. Deckard cringed. It was happening again. She bit her lip until she could taste the blood stain her tongue.

'I find it disappointing that you have had something more important to focus on than a mission to retrieve prisoners for the Emperor and myself'

'Not at all my Lord, I have been drafting in more assistance'

'No need to explain' Deckard and Mattesta watched in horror as Lockee suddenly clutched his throat and began to choke loudly and violently.

Vader didn't even wait for him to die. 'Commander Mattesta you will take over this mission with Lieutenant Deckard as your second. I will replace Lockee for the time being, but this task you will lead. Capture the Jedi and my Defel and the admiralty is yours. Do not disappoint me as Lockee did.'

Mattesta responded over the sounds of Lockee's last chokes 'No my Lord'

The holotransmission ended abruptly. Without turning a hair Mattesta told Deckard to arrange to have Lockee's body removed and walked out. He was the strangest combination of grey and green that Deckard had seen in a long time.

He had wanted to work for Vader and now he did. It was time to put his money where his mouth was.

Or his life expectancy had just shortened significantly.

Deckard watched him leave and surveyed Lockee's corpse. That had gone better than expected in many ways - she hadn't wanted to die. But so much for staying out the Vader's way…..

Classified: RMG – Internal


	15. Chapter 15

Thank you to everyone who has waited so patiently for this next installment - its an extra long one by way of apology!

**Contact**

'We're on course to a trading post on the outer rim. It's quite a jump, but it should give us at least six, maybe eight hours before the Imps arrive' Six announced to the crew. They looked a sad bunch. Kehl was sprawled in his chair in the mess, feet on the table. Inez was glaring at him so she didn't have to look at Vail who was sitting very tensely next to his brother, head down. He and Inez hadn't spoken since his outburst and they both looked incredibly miserable, hiding their hurt behind their short-tempers, and avoiding each other as much as they could.

Dan, for his part, looked very pale, with bags under his eyes that looked more like bruises. But he was conscious at least and he had been able to walk to the mess this morning under his own steam. His wound still hurt but he was recovering, that was the main thing. Star sat very quietly, looking and speaking to no one.

It was impossible to read Tori's expression, but he was here. Six was determined to treat him as one of the crew and try to make him feel as welcome as the atmosphere allowed.

We need to sell our spare equipment for the best possible price, and buy food, fuel and medical supplies. I need to send a coded message to Contact from the station systems; Kehl will do the bartering, I have a shopping list for you – Inez, Vail and Torri, I have a separate mission for you.' Inez and Vail both visibly flinched as they were assigned the same task. 'Star you keep the ship prepped and ready to go, Dan watch over Rune.'

Star scowled at being made to stay on board, but didn't speak. Everyone else just nodded thoughtfully.

Six sighed, having a team meeting wasn't usually so quiet. It was like no one dared argue anymore, afraid of what they might say.

Only Kehl seemed oblivious to the atmosphere. 'Sure-thing boss. You done with me then?'

Six nodded and Kehl, rose with an alacrity that suggested he wasn't quite so oblivious as he made out, and he, closely followed by Dan and Star fled as fast as their individual situations allowed.

With an internal sigh Six waited while Inez hurried into the kitchenette to get another pot of tea. Torri seemed to very much enjoy Inez' tea and company, and just lately they could often be found hanging out in the med-cupboard, or mess, drinking tea and chewing on damper, exchanging stories of their home worlds. Vail was sat as far away from Inez as the table allowed, he kept his head down, neither speaking nor helping himself to tea.

'Right you three, we need help. The equipment we had stored on Homestead won't generate enough credits to keep us going for more than a few months and it certainly won't buy new ID for us and the Kraken. We need a way of getting more credits or some practical assistance to get us back to an operational status.

Xinn has effectively disabled our comms array – we know its bugged - so we need to find help in person. I don't know where Contact physically is right now, so a visit is not on the table. The options are either a cell we set up in the past, before Xinn, or, I find a different resistance cell. Either within our own organisation or, well…, we know there is at least one other organised widespread inter-planetary resistance group'.

Six paused, trying to assess the mood of the group, but got nothing. 'Trouble with going to our old cells for help, even if we could find them, is they are all on planets with a strong imp presence. And we can no longer transmit either of our transponder codes to gain entry. So we need to try and make contact with someone who is somewhere we don't need to transmit a code'. He glanced around to check for signs that his audience was following his logic, but they were all silent. He ploughed on.

'Contact mentioned to me months ago about this station we are heading to now. He thinks there is someone aboard with links to this other resistance group. He was planning for us to check out this station at some point anyway with the idea of joining with this group to make ourselves stronger, we just upped the schedule. Thing is, we don't know how to find this person.

Inez, you have the best intuition about people, I want you to scope out the station and see if you can see any sign of a potential rebel cell'.

'Really? With no clue who I'm looking for?'

'I know it's a long shot, but at a staging area like this, one or two rebel agents could operate quite effectively. They could pass messages and instructions between ships without those cells ever meeting each other and without the operatives ever knowing where the ships have come from or where they are going. It's what I would do. This is a reasonably stable station, well ordered, a militia that keeps things running well and not _too_ corrupt. It doesn't ask questions, doesn't require flight plans or a transponder code, doesn't officially record comings and goings. Lots of ships passing through both for the black market and the more legitimate wheeling and dealing that goes on. And there isn't enough black-market trade to warrant interference from the imps. It's a good place'.

Inez nodded thoughtfully. 'Well, we can but try, you never know'

'Good, you three will all see different things, stay fairly close, look for leads. If we don't get help here we are running out of options. Well, no. We will be out of options'.

'If they exist and we find them, how do we persuade them to help us?' mused Inez.

'Let's just take one step at a time'

Six was in the med-bay seeing how Rune was doing when the proximity alert sounded. He felt Kehl drop them smoothly out of hyperspace, and reluctantly left the Jedi and headed up to the cockpit. He was worried. There was little change in Runes condition. She was still unconscious, and her vital signs were slowly weakening. Inez was currently making her own drip of water, salts and an extract of a tea that had nutritional properties. It was far from ideal, but it didn't seem to be doing any harm and it might just be doing enough good to keep Rune alive until they could get some proper medical supplies.

As instructed, Kehl had brought them out right on the edge of the system. Sensors revealed a busy space station with lots of small to medium craft docked or orbiting. No capital ships, nothing overtly imp. It looked safe to proceed. No questions would be asked here if a ship didn't broadcast any ID. Not many did.

They docked in short order and disembarked swiftly, knowing they wouldn't have long on the station to ensure they were away before they were tracked here. Six had calculated a maximum of five and a half hours for their stay, but he would prefer to be out in three.

The groups went about their tasks without wasting any time. Six strode through the station quite openly, watching peoples' faces for a reaction. His was a clone face – it wasn't without precedent for clones to have left the forces, but he could still garner a reaction from those with a guilty conscience.

The docking ports opened onto corridors simply called the Circles One, Two and Three, because they circled the station, and they all gave access to the station through a large three-tiered and very crowded open staging area. This area was quite welcoming with a busy bar and lots of tables and private booths for passing merchants and traders to make their shadier deals without ever going deeper into the station. Further in was the official trading area where the stations more permanent residents hosted their wares, and further still were the living quarters and station control. He saw several groups of bounty hunters and merchants lounging at tables watching him warily, but that was to be expected. He was most surprised by the reaction of a woman and her young son. She was sat stiffly at a small table as far away from the heaving bar as it was possible to get, and momentarily she looked quite horrified at the sight of him, before she was able to bend her head over a datapad on the table and hide her face. Six comm'd Inez and told her to target the woman. She might know something of interest – more so than any number of bounty hunter scum.

Inez was walking far behind Six, and it was easy enough for her to follow the direction of his hand signals until she spotted the woman. She peeled off to approach her from a different angle. She was keeping a firm arm around her son, while her dark eyes scanned the room ceaselessly. But as usual, Inez was below the eyeline of most people.

Inez picked a table next to the woman's and sat close to her, subtly signalling Vail to join her. He walked over stiffly.

Inez thought fast, there was no time for subtlety. 'Get me some tea will you Vail, and drinks for the lady and her son – what will you have?'

The woman recoiled at Inez words, and her cheeks flushed. She was a gentle looking brunette, her hair scraped up in a messy bun, her cheek bones were angled in her thin face, giving her a haunted beauty. Despite her desperate air, there was a determination about her that Inez liked.

'Ah no no, we're fine thank you.'

Inez leaned in confidentially. 'My names Inez, and you will look a lot less suspicious if you hang out in a bar drinking something than if you don't drink something.'

The woman flushed even redder and realisation dawned. 'Oh! Oh, thank you. I, er, we'll have tea too please'

Inez winked, and Vail stalked off towards the bar leaving Inez to work her magic.

'That's Vail, by the way, one of my crew. You waiting for someone?'

The woman nodded, and the boy sighed. 'Mom they're not here, we've been waiting ages.'

'Ssh honey'

Inez nodded sagely 'Not the most interesting place to hang out I take it. We only just got here ourselves, but we're looking for someone too. Trouble is, we don't really know who we're looking for.'

'You don't?'

Inez nodded confidentially and leaned in closer.

'You been here a while, maybe you've seen something that could help me.'

Inez paused for effect and leaned back as if on her guard. 'You work for the Imps?'

The woman looked horrified 'No! certainly not, they killed my h-'

'They killed my daddy' interjected the boy, cold hatred in his voice. He was a pilot, he-'

'Harben, hush'

'That's ok, don't worry' said Inez gently. 'They killed my daughter. And I won't ever forgive them.' She paused again. 'In fact right now I am trying to find someone who can help me make them pay.'

'So are we!' said Harben excitedly.

'Hush!' said the woman frantically, her eyes scanning the room in terror in case someone else had heard over the hubbub.'

She never once looked assessingly at Inez, taking it for granted that there was no way Inez was any kind of imperial agent. And rightly so, reflected Inez, the imps would never allow someone as short as herself into their precious academies. She glanced up and saw Vail leaving the bar, effortlessly balancing a tray loaded with tea things on one hand, as he weaved among the tables as gracefully as a dancer. She felt that all too familiar stabbing pain in her heart. If she had ever nurtured the faintest hope that he might one day notice her, that had been well and truly crushed. It wasn't only the imps that she wasn't good enough for. She shut those thoughts down fast. There was always another long, lonely night to weep into her pillow for everything she had lost and would never have again. Right now she just needed to focus on her job, on their _survival_.

'Then maybe we are looking for the same person.' Inez volunteered slowly. 'I am part of a team that recruits people to fight back against the Empire, but we were ambushed by the imps on our last mission and we need some help. There is someone on this station that can put us in touch with a resistance group that can help us, but we don't know how to find them.' Talk about putting all your cards on the table. She could feel the heat of Vails glare as he set down the tray, but what could she do? They had to make the most of this lead while they could, and time was against them. And her instincts rarely let her down. She pushed thoughts of Xinn to one side guiltily.

'I'm Trilia, and this is my son Harben' offered the woman, while her son gasped in amazement at the array of treats on Vails tray, including a slice of citros cake and some fizzy glug clearly meant for him. She gave a little nod, allowing him to take the items from Vail and continued with her story. We were part of a resistance group, carrying out missions against the imps. We were raiding what was supposed to be a routine imp cargo train, but when we dropped out they had way more fire power than they were supposed to.' She took a steadying breath. 'They massacred us. My husband was in one of the Z-95 Headhunters….they were all destroyed. I was co-pilot on our command ship. The mission commander sent me to prep the escape transport with Harb, but then he wouldn't leave the bridge, he kept on fighting to give us time to get away. We tried to wait for him, but he wouldn't come and then the ship was hit and started to blow, so we had to go. We only just jumped the shuttle out in time. We came here because there is supposed to be someone who can send us to a new group, but we have waited two days and no one has come.'

'How do they know you're here?'

'Well if you sit here at this particular table under this graffiti of a rancor, and bring a datapad which you leave face down, someone should get in touch.' She indicated the datapad they had with them'.

'Hmm' said Inez, well we can't afford to wait. But I may be able to help with that. She comlinked the Kraken. 'Star, can you hack the security cameras do you think?'

'Probably, the security here isn't top notch'.

'See if you can find me in the bar, and the lady sat at the table next to me. Then go back through the recordings to see who was last sat at her table with a datapad face down. And see who came over to speak to that person. Then we need to know where that person lives on this station'.

'I thought they didn't keep any records here' blurted the woman, her face growing even paler 'that's why it's safe'.

Inez snorted. 'Oh they keep records, they need it to keep this place secure. But they'll be set up to auto-delete everything if an imp vessel shows, or a particularly aggressive delegation of one of the criminal gangs or the trade federation.'

'Oh.'

'Don't worry, they're not stupid, they would never tip their hand unless they had to, they get too much trade from promising anonymity – but they record alright. Haven't you seen the cameras?'

'Well yes, but I thought they were just for watching, not for…oh. Yeah.'

Inez nodded sagely. They drank their tea and Inez tried and failed to spot Torri in the crowds.

She was relieved when her commlink buzzed twenty minutes later. 'Ok, the last time was about 3 days ago. I was able to track them back to a room on sub-level 15, room 1575a. Three went in, two came out.'

She heard Torri's 'Roger that' in her ear, and saw Vails slight nod. They were all hooked up to one comms line. 'Roger that' said Inez to Star as she stood up. She looked directly at the woman. 'Come on – I have a lead.' Trilia stood up nervously. 'Should we stay here?'

'Looks like your contact is in their apartment, if you want to meet them you should come with us. Probably safer to go in a group, we don't know what it's like down in the living quarters, but probably not the best place for a young woman and her child.'

Harben scowled, he obviously considered he was a man now, but Trilia took her point.

They stood up and forged their way out of the staging area, Inez took point, Vail took the rear. Inez thought she saw a patch of blurred wall head, and hoped that was Torri going on ahead, checking their route was safe.

It didn't take long to get to the living quarters. Even though this was clearly the area that the long term residents lived in, no one they passed in the corridors took the slightest notice of them. It was reasonably clean and very well lit, with cameras covering every part of the network of corridors. Clearly the station did its best to keep crime to a minimum and its bill paying inhabitants safe.

She knocked at the door, but there was no sound from within and the door remained resolutely closed. She didn't try a second knock, simply put herself between the door and the nearest camera, while Vail mirrored her with the camera behind them and used her breaking and entering skills to hack the door and get it to open quickly and without fuss.

Trilia blinked owlishly, but said nothing. Her desire to get off the station overriding everything else. Inez stood back to let Vail in, and he slunk inside, incredibly quiet for such a large man. After only a few seconds, they heard his voice. 'Keep the boy by the door.' That told Inez everything she needed to know. The agent was dead. Now what were they going to do?

Inez ushered Trilia and Harben inside, they needed to get off the corridor and away from the cameras so she couldn't keep them outside. She stood back for Torri to glide past her and then stepped in and let the door swish shut.

Mother and son clustered by the doorway, Trilia nervous, her son anxious to see what was going on, in the carefree way of the young.

Inez took in the little apartment at a glance, there were three tiny rooms. They were in the living area, and she could see entrances to the sleeping quarters and a head. They had been kept surprisingly clean and tidy, with few belongings. Vail beckoned her over from the door of the bedroom. She indicated Trilia and Harben should stay put and hurried over to him. She quickly saw that he had found the body of a humanoid slumped on the floor next to a bedside table, a blaster wound to the chest the obvious cause of death. In the partially open drawer next to him, a just out of reach blaster. It seemed as if the agent had brought someone back to his quarters and then maybe got suspicious and come to get his blaster.

'Surely he would have carried a blaster on him though, so what if he had come in here to get something else?' she wondered out loud. She glanced at Vail and judged that he was having similar thoughts. He moved to rummage around in the drawer, testing it for a false panel, examining its contents, the hand-blaster, a hydro-spanner and a snack bar. Inez checked the body, and sure enough found a decent blaster in the folds of his robes.

'Well if he had anything of value, its gone, but….he paused and considered the spanner, a strange thing to keep by the bedside in an otherwise quite spartan drawer, spartan room in fact. He started to look around, and Torri made a grunt – he was crouched down pointing at a vent on the floor, obscured by the bed. Vail and Torri unceremoniously shoved the bed to one side and Vail started to unscrew the plate. It came away with the ease of regular use, and he reached inside. 'Sabaac' he grinned, hoisting a package from the hole. He hurriedly replaced the grill and fastened it back, then they pushed the bed back. Torri had finished his sweep of the room and found nothing else so they left the unfortunate rebel, and went back to Trilia. She and Harb were sat huddled together on the battered couch. Vail and Torri continued the search in the head and main room as Inez spoke to Trilia, her comms channel open so that Six and Star could hear what they had found.

'Your Agent is dead, but I think we have whatever information is kept here. We need to leave quickly and examine this datapad away from here. Can you come with us? On our ship?'

'No, everything we own is on our ship, we can't leave it'

'Then I propose we meet at a rendezvous point in an uninhabited system near here. Vail can go with you, so that you have our guarantee that we won't abscond with the data, but we need to hurry. Star can you run some suitable coordinates and transmit to Vail and let's go.'

Trilia nodded uncertainly, everything was suddenly happening very rapidly, and she no doubt was worried about their intentions, but sending Vail was the best reassurance of their good intentions Inez could think of and they were out of time. She was getting a very bad feeling.

They left the apartment hurriedly and headed back to the Circles. Star informed Inez that Six and Kehl were back on board and Kehl was being antsy. He had a really really bad feeling. Star and Inez had learnt a great respect for stoic Kehls 'feelings' over the years. Inez urged her companions to move faster, feeling an uneasy tingle shiver up and down her spine.

Just as they reached the OuterCircle intersection where Trilia needed to branch off to get to her ship, on the opposite side of the station to the Kraken, a klaxon rang out shockingly through the corridor. Residents and visitors alike began to run in panic. Vail took a moment to look through the view screen above the heads of the fleeing crowds.

He looked Inez in the eye. 'Imps'

'Oh no' wailed Tilia before Inez could speak 'They must have tracked me here' She gathered Harben in her arms and began to sprint to her ship as best she could through the panicking crowds. Vail squeezed Inez shoulder once and then slid through the crowds easily overtaking the woman and child and forging a path so they could follow in his slip stream.

Inez squared her shoulders and felt for Torri at her side. She thought she might just have had an apology of sorts. Or maybe a good bye. But atleast the offer of a truce. Her heart lifted, just a fraction.

Hanging on to Torri, she followed him hurriedly back to Kraken. He tried to avoid the thinning crowd, but people were in such a panic that they rarely noticed they'd cannoned off something that wasn't there.

The station speakers blared to life: 'All citizens evacuate, we are about to be boarded' the message cut off and the crew patched in the message the imps were evidently broadcasting: 'All ships power down, you are under arrest. No one is to leave their docking port or attempt to leave this station. The view screen was broadcasting an approaching fleet of three star destroyers and their accompanying swarms of TIEs launching. Inez could see ships launching in droves through the viewscreens, despite the message.

Inez tried to run faster, but even at her top speed she couldn't do more than Sixes fastest walk. 'Torri can you carry me?'

She thought he nodded, and the next second she was hoisted into the air as if she was a feather and they were hurtling down the corridor at an unimaginable speed, neatly avoiding all humanoid obstacles in their way. The sight of a very short woman apparently flying without wings did draw the occasional astonished glance, but no one wanted to hang around to investigate.

Just as they rounded the corner, she heard and felt the first blasts issued from the destroyers turbolasers rock the station.

Vail and Trilia were just approaching her docking bay when the explosion struck the station, and at the end of the corridor the patch of the station directly in front of them dissolved in a fire ball that was sucked out into space, clearly visible through the now missing section of hull.

Trilia screamed as she saw her ship destroyed, but Vail didn't hesitate, he knew what was coming next. He grabbed the boy from Trilia in one hand and grabbed her hand with the other and sprinted back up the corridor, getting them away from the explosion as fast as he could. He could see the internal shield doors closing up ahead, and he yanked them through the rapidly narrowing gap with a split second to spare.

The doors would preserve the precious atmosphere in the station, but there were other humanoids further along that were not so swift to react and were trapped on the wrong side of the doors. Vail shielded the kids eyes so he couldn't see their gruesome deaths through the window panels in the doors, and took off for the Kraken at a run, Trilia following in blind panic. The corridors were clearing now and Vail was able to pick up some real speed, even carrying the boy. He let go of Trilia's hand to pick up speed and commed the ship. 'Kehl you have to wait for us, Trilia's ship is destroyed, we're on our way.'

'You'd better hurry man' responded Kehl in his usual understated way, but for those that knew him they detected the note of strain in his voice.

Even carrying Haben, Vail was leaving the mother behind. Gritting his teeth he slowed enough for her to catch up, grabbed her hand again and towed her behind him.

She was sobbing and breathless 'my ship' she moaned.

'Forget your ship and concentrate on running if you want to live' he growled.

Harsh words, but Trilia didn't seem to take exception to them, she took a deep breath and directed all her energies towards running.

Kehl was watching the scanners. The Imps had emerged almost exactly where the Kraken had dropped out, but Kehl had had the forethought to take up a dock on the opposite side of the station. Now he was using the stations sensors to monitor where the three destroyers were. They had fired some warning shots at the station initially, taking out a few docking bays, superficial damage to a station that size, not the case for the small ships that had been docked there. Now the imps were firing quite determinedly on any ships that tried to disengage and escape, and they were manoeuvring into a triad position that would allow them to cover all angles of the station, while also deploying swarms of TIEs to deter the smaller ships thinking about escape. He could see they had less than a minute before the nearest destroyer reached a position where the Kraken could be scanned and identified, and most importantly, fired upon or tractor beamed.

'Vail' he said tightly. 'You need to run faster dude'

Vail didn't even bother responding, every bit of his energy was spent on propelling the three of them towards the Kraken. Another blast rocked the station behind them, the evacuation alarm was sounding loudly, the stations full blast shielding was being deployed, cutting off the view of the carnage outside. Vail dug deeper, and somehow kicked it up a gear; the boy in his arms was just clinging on like a monkey, wide eyed but not crying or speaking.

Trilia just focused on keeping her legs moving as Vail dragged her along. Her lungs were burning by the time they turned down the arm that led directly to the Krakens docking port. She could see Inez waiting on board in the hatch. The explosions were coming closer, just as she thought she was going to make it she tripped and started to fall. Somehow Vail caught her and lifted her from her feet, sprinting the last few metres and throwing himself, Tilia and Harben through the portal.

Inez slammed her palm against the panel to close the ramp, Kehl in the cockpit hit the control to commence detachment the moment his readout showed 'Hatch Closing'. He wheeled the ship away from the dock just as the nose of the first destroyer slid into view, and the Krakens sensors picked up the edge of a tractor beam. He didn't hang about, he had a jump ready programmed and he hurled them into hyperspace. At this stage it seemed unlikely they were going to be barred for jumping too close to the station.

As soon as she felt the transition into hyperspace, Inez allowed herself to breath. That had been far too close for comfort. Again. She nudged Torri and together they set about helping to untangle the bodies at their feet. Inez picked out Harben while Torri helped Vail untangle himself from Trilia. For a few moments no one spoke as Vail and Trilia concentrated on getting their breath back.

Inez thought fast. 'Well, unexpected as it is, you guys are very welcome on board. C'mon let's get you introduced to our crew, show you around and then we can find you a bunk each and you can get yourself settled. We're all waifs and strays here, you'll soon feel at home.'

Trilia nodded gratefully, leaning heavily on Vail, her chest still heaving. Harben didn't look much the worse for his adventure and was squinting at Torri in puzzlement.

It seemed like as good a place as any to start.

'Trilia and Harben, meet Torri – a crew member. Trilia blinked and stepped back, she clearly hadn't noticed him at all. Harben looked rightfully pleased with himself. 'I knew you were there - What are you?' he demanded with the tact of the young.

'That is a story for a bit later. For now, I need to take you to meet our Commander and the others' interjected Inez.

She led the way towards the cockpit and introduced mother and son to Six, Kehl, Dan and Star who were still clustered around the consoles after their narrow escape. Trilia looked horrified when she saw Six but Inez was quick to reassure her.

'Don't worry, Six escaped from the Imp army. After Order 66. He has as much reason as anyone to hate the Empire. He set up this whole outfit and we're all grateful that he did – he saved us all.' She didn't elaborate but moved on quickly before Trilia could protest or question, but from her expression, she seemed to understand the implications of Order 66.

'And believe me, everyone on board has their own reasons to hate the imps and to want to strike back at them. You're not alone in that regard' She let that sink in and watched for Trilia's reaction. The woman smiled tiredly and nodded agreement, her eyes scanning the cockpit and crew, with interest. Viewing it critically, Inez realised how battered and utilitarian the ship was, how worn they must all look, but Trilia didn't seem alarmed by their appearances. Inez guessed she was used to functionality, rather than luxury living. She moved on quickly.

'Guys, meet Trilia and her son Harben' she soon brought the crew up to speed with what Trilia had told her about the ambush and how they had come to be on the station.

'Is that right?' asked Six seriously.

Trilia nodded slowly 'Yes, it's true.' She suddenly looked very deflated as the events of the past few days hit her. 'My husband and I are, were, part of the resistance. But now, Harben and I, we're completely on our own. Unless there is something on that datapad….'

'You are not on your own now, we will do all we can to get you back to your people' said Inez firmly. 'In the meantime, Kehl, you have a new bunk mate – Harben will be in with you. Trilia you are with me.'

Trilia was about to protest at the separate sleeping arrangements but bit her tongue. She remembered she was a guest here, these strangers had helped her and then saved her life. If they had wanted to harm her they would have done it by now – they had the data pad after all.

'One last thing then.' The crew looked at her in anticipation. 'Call me Lia'

Inez nodded and then turned her attention to the datapad in her hand. 'I really hope this was worth it' she muttered handing it over to Star.

Star, who had been spending every hour of her days unsuccessfully trying to find Xinns bugs in the ships systems, was relieved to have something different to do. She took the pad and headed down to her little nest glad not to be crawling through conduits for a while at least.

Once Lia and Harben had been introduced to everyone, they went about settling themselves in. Dan, hoping to make himself useful after such a long period of inactivity, came and sat on Inez bottom bunk and chatted to Lia about the house rules, meals, cleaning, ships hierarchy and anything else he could think about to keep her entertained. Inez had shown her Xinns storage cubes and told the woman to help herself to anything she wanted. It would hurt to see Tia in anything of Xinns, but they couldn't afford to waste any resources and the two women were not dissimilar in size.

It hurt even more to show Harb where Kits belongings were. For his part, Harb was quite excited to be bunking with the pilot of the ship, away from his protective mother, and not that interested in new clothes. But he was most interested in seeing what Star was up to. Computers were his fascination. He begged Inez to let him see how Star was getting on, and tiny woman tried to swallow down the hurt at her thoughts of how much he would have loved Kit if only they had met. And how much Kit would have loved to have an admirer, someone younger who would look up to him for a change. She stiffened her spine and led the way down to engineering.

Star didn't seem to mind having some help and Inez left them, short brown hair and twitching headtails close together as they huddled over the little data pad. She needed to know how Kehl had got on.

Six was not in a great mood. As he tersely explained to Inez, although he had successfully spoken to Contact, Kehl's quest to buy medpacs had failed dismally. Medical equipment of all kinds had turned out to be in short supply on the station, and so the prices had been extortionate. After paying for the fuel and food they desperately needed he hadn't had enough credits for even one medpac. He had been hoping to trade some spare parts for a medpac with one of the newly docked ships on the Circles – but as he was about to leave the market place, a real bad feeling had stopped him in his tracks. So he had paid for an over-priced deep-spacer recharge patch, along with some vitamins and minerals from the nearest merchants stall, and high tailed it back to the ship. Fortunately. His bad feeling had turned out to be entirely accurate.

And Six, who had wanted to roar and shout at him and demand to know how he dare come back without a medpac had said nothing because the entire crew knew better than to ignore Kehls feelings. Kehl was cold starting the ship even as the imps were emerging from their jump and opening fire. If he had headed for the Circles without buying the patch they wouldn't have had any medicine at all.

Six changed the subject abruptly. 'I know those two are our only hope of a way into the resistance, but we need to watch them like hawks'

Inez inferred he was talking about their new guests. 'I know, we can't afford another Xinn. I don't think these two waifs and strays are the same though.'

Six glared at her.

'I know, I know, we didn't pick up on Xinn and we should have. We wanted her to be good too much. But Dan is entertaining Lia and Star is with Harb, so for now atleast, they can't do any harm.'

'Great, but it is too easy for them to cause some damage if they get to our comms array.'

'I think the damage there is already done, and well, we won't leave them on their own. We can ask Torri to take the night watch. Besides we approached them, not the other way round – and they didn't intend for their own ship to be blown up'.

Six harrumphed but seemed mollified at the thought. 'We just need to get into that datapad. That has to be the key. And we need to see it before we get to Contact. If they are not who they say they are, we cannot afford to lead them to him.'

Inez nodded. Breathing down Stars neck wasn't going to help, she wasn't as fast as Kit but he had passed on lots of tips and tricks. Star would get into the thing, it was only a matter of when, Inez just needed to keep Six away for a while. 'Well, let's go see if we can revive Rune with this patch'.

Six brightened immediately and they headed to the med-cupboard.

Inez applied the recharger pack to Runes frail arm and prayed. The packs were meant to give deep spacers - who hadn't seen any kind of daylight in a long time - a massive boost to their system with all the vitamins and minerals they needed and didn't necessarily get without sunlight and fresh food. If it was going to be enough, it should wake Rune up within a few minutes as it flooded her system. While she waited she added some of the vitamins and minerals to the drip, mainly to keep her hands occupied so Six didn't see how nervous she was. Rune was seriously ill, and if this didn't help, then she didn't think they were close enough to Contact and proper medical assistance to save her.

After a tense three minutes, to the immense relief of both Inez and Six, Rune stirred. They both let out a breath they hadn't known they were holding.

She wasn't out of the woods, but at least there was hope now that Rune might hang on long enough to get to Contact.

It took quite a few hours, but eventually Star, and Harb, got into the datapad. The pair were jubilant as they went to find Six and Inez. Harben's chest was puffed up with pride, that he had been part of something important to the whole ship. Star looked mostly relieved that she had been able to do something out of her comfort zone, something that she knew Kit would have done in just a few minutes.

To everyone's enormous relief, there were comm-codes stored in the pad. Other information was limited, but it didn't hold anything that indicated its former owner _wasn't _part of the resistance group as Lia had claimed. They just need to plug it into an array and they could contact her group. Of course they didn't have a safe array they could plug into. But Contact would have that, or be able to make the Krakens safe. And they would be with him in just a couple of days. Reluctantly Star resumed her search of the ship for bugs, but this time with Harben at her side for company.

Six passed the intervening days with Rune. She was awake although she wasn't strong enough to move, she sat propped up against her pillows listlessly staring into space. There was nothing to see or do in the spartan med-cupboard so he carried her down to engineering where at least it was a bit more homely, and there was room for the rest of the crew to swing by and visit her and relax between their chores.

Six was drawn to Rune in a way that he couldn't explain. He wanted to sit and watch her like he still couldn't quite believe that there was a Jedi right in front of his eyes. He had never felt this drawn to anyone before. He couldn't bear to leave her side for more than the few minutes it took to check the status of the crew and ship at regular intervals. The knowledge that he was going to hand her over to Contact weighed heavily on him.

For her part, she was pleased to have company and now that she had accepted him, she found Six fascinating. He was a link to the old days for her as much as she was for him.

She wanted to hear his stories of the clone wars, the Jedi he had run with, the battles he had fought in and planets he had visited.

Back in Strategy lessons as a youngling, her class had reviewed the tactics used in real battles. She found to her surprise she remembered studying several conflicts that Six talked about. She was eager to hear his view of how the fighting had unfolded, and the heroic deeds of the Jedi and the clones, her desire to reconnect with her past strengthening even as her physical body was weakening.

For the longest time, images from before her capture, had been hazy at best, until gradually all thoughts had become dormant and there was only existence. Now, flashes of memories from her former life were beginning to resurface. As if she were finally allowing herself to remember that there had been warmth and good in her life, things worth fighting for - not just endless pain. And may be there could be good things in her future too.

Even though she tired quickly, any effort exhausting her, Six was an excellent story teller and the hours flew by as she listened to his tales. Inez would drop in occasionally with tea and damper - that Six would wolf down, and Rune never touch – but apart from that they were uninterrupted during the day, until the workshift ended and the little crew and their guests piled down into engineering with hot food and drink to keep her company and chat while they enjoyed their evening meal. She enjoyed that too, although she dozed patchily, dreamily floating in and out of conversations and laughter, like a single silver thread running through a patchwork of colour and vivid images.

She didn't know when it all became quiet but she realised everyone had gone and it was dark. Six was asleep on the floor next to her, and Star across from her on her little bed.

She listened for a few moments, but there was no rustling just slow, steady breathing. Six didn't seem to be restless or uncomfortable from sleeping on the hard floor, she guessed he had slept in worse places.

From time to time Torri would drift in silently, speak in low tones with her for a while and then slip out to check that all was quiet and the two waifs and strays weren't planting bombs and bugs across the ship. They weren't.

She must have slept after the third of fourth visit from Torri, for the next time she opened her eyes, Star was gone and Six was leant against her bed, breakfasting on a pot of seeds and nuts, a large mug of tea next to him. He made a noise mid-crunch, that she interpreted to be a greeting.

It seemed like it was finally the right time to tell her own story. She took a breath and dug deep to find the courage to begin at the beginning. To look back critically at that time when she had been so very happy.

'For you, Order 66 is your nemesis, the stuff of your nightmares'.

Six almost choked on his seeds. He hadn't expected her to speak and certainly not so directly. She stifled a tiny smile at the almost comical look of dismay on his face as it occurred to him she held Order 66 against him after all. He shuffled round so he could see her better.

'But _my_ recurring nightmare is the massacre in the Jedi Temple.' Six looked at her in part relief – part shock as it dawned on him this wasn't about him, it was about her.

'I feel like I should have been able to stop it months before it happened. And I wonder sometimes… if I had stopped it, would events have unravelled enough that it would have stopped Order 66 from happening too? I don't know. But I feel like Palpatine was the hand that orchestrated both events and unmasking one would have prevented the other'

'Stopped it? How? You were just a child.'

'Because of my …..'gift'….'

Oh, the irony. 'All the younglings have – had - a strength, from sabre skills to animal control – something that they take to, more than other disciplines. For me it was far-seeing. I mean, most Jedi could learn to far-see to some extent, but it was becoming an increasingly rare skill – or so my Master told me. For those who tried it, the force had become clouded and glimpses of the future rare indeed - and usually more confusing than helpful. The teachers didn't even teach more than the basics in class any more.

But I had clear visions even as a young child. I was encouraged because it was a rare talent, but I was no use to anyone at first because I was too young to understand I had to frame my visions in terms my teachers could understand and place in the stream of time. I didn't always know if I was looking at current events, something in the past or in the future. I would just blurt out what I had seen and usually it made no sense to them - or me. As I got older, things began to make more sense, I got better at deciphering where they were in time and space. And then one night I had the clearest and most definite vision I had ever had. I knew it was from the future and I knew it was in the Jedi Temple. It was that vision that saved my life and ended it at the same time….

I know I had to tell Master Yoda, he visited us regularly back then, and he always had time for a few words with each of us. When he visited class the next morning I ran to him and blurted out my vision, I knew it was going to happen. I was convinced if I told him he would be able to stop it coming true…

But instead, when I told him I'd had a vision and everyone in the Temple died….I saw the truth of it reflected in his eyes.

It's moments like that when you cast off your childhood and realise that… well, that no one is infallible. Not even Master Yoda.

He didn't question the vision at all, but he looked somehow…. older….and sadder. Because I wasn't the first person to see this particular version of the future.

He took me straight to the Council rooms to talk to the Masters. A rare honour if only I had had time to appreciate it.

They were alarmed but unsurprised. They conferred for several days, and I heard nothing. Then I was told me it was time for me to become a Padawan with my own Master. I needed to work hard to reveal the face of the murderer to them.

And so they recalled Master Kyobashi from his travels and I became his Padawan learner. It was he who had had the first had that exact same vision, many years ago; right back when a new Sith Lord appeared. He was called Darth Maul and he had attacked Master Qui Gon on Tatooine. Everyone had felt sure it was he who would be sent to attack the Temple.

But then Obi Wan killed him on Naboo and everyone thought the danger had passed. Until my Master kept right on having the vision, over and over again, always stopping before the face of the murderer was revealed.

The question he was constantly asked by the Council was why would a Jedi attack the temple? My Master found it hard to believe himself and he was having the vision. He and the Council came to believe that Maul had a Master. The Sith have something called the Rule of Two, they never come alone. So maybe that Master was looking to recruit a new apprentice to replace Maul, and this time from the ranks of the Jedi.

But Kyobashi could never get the Council the name they needed to be able to act on his vision. So in the end he left Coruscant. He knew the council accepted his vision and were genuinely worried about this unknown Sith Lord. But if he couldn't see who or when it was then they couldn't act and there was no point him staying when he could be out serving the Republic. When Count Dooku emerged the Council thought him a prime suspect - he had once been a Jedi himself - but then he was killed by Obi Wan and Anakin and they never found his apprentice, if he had one.

As my Master travelled the galaxy he kept trying to see, but he never could. And from the day I told Master Yoda my vision, what I could see of the future vastly reduced. Kyobashi maintained that there was a cloud over Coruscant and that he couldn't see clearly while he was there, and strangely, now that I had spoken out, it was affecting me too.

Together we headed to the outer rim to continue Master Kyobashi's task to identify more children of the force, our numbers were dwindling due to the ongoing war. By then, we didn't feel we should take any more children to the Temple, even though security there had been tripled and we still didn't know when the attack would be – it could have been many many more years in the future. Instead we recorded their location. The council were working in secret to set up a new school somewhere away from Coruscant and once it was set up we would come back for the children and they would begin their new lives in safety with all the other children from the Temple.

It was a gentle life, and strange travelling from world to world seeking gifted children, knowing that the war raged on without us. But it was valuable work and My Master had never been a warrior and could no longer have fought any way. His visions as well as his body were weakened by his advanced age. Still, he taught me how to meditate, how to strengthen my far-seeing skills and link our minds. We explored the vision but even working together we could never get past a certain point. We were being blocked.

Sending us away did help though. The further we travelled from Coruscant the clearer the vision became. We saw the Jedi attack the younglings, the man finally beginning to look more and more familiar, and his deeds more and more terrible. But when we were finally far enough away from the cloud of oppression for the face of the murderer to spring into focus, we were too far away and too late to change any of it. We realised we were looking into the past.

Someone had been blocking us, and we had to go a long way away to get out from under that influence - but on the outer rim, for the first time I understood the strength of my ability, I could see so clearly and so far. But I also came to appreciate how powerful that person must be who could block not only an inexperienced Padawan, and a Jedi Master, but the Jedi Council and a huge chunk of the galaxy….

Anyway, we had nothing to go back to and there was nothing left to see except the relentless, insidious spread of the dark side of the force across the galaxy.'

Six nodded as she paused. 'Relentless indeed'. He thought she was going back to sleep, but she abruptly resumed her thread, her tone desolate.

'I was so happy at first, to be chosen as a Padawan, it was such an honour. But looking back it was more like a punishment. If I hadn't left Coruscant with my Master, I would have been killed with the other younglings, I know. But I wouldn't have had to watch the Republic die in flames and the birth of the evil Empire rise from the ashes. I wouldn't have had to watch the holonet newsfeeds of the clone troopers killing the Jedi, shooting them in the back, turning on the people who fought at their side and protected them. I wouldn't have had to watch the Jedi falsely accused of prolonging the war so that they could over throw Palpatine and rule in his place. Never see Palpatine proclaim himself Emperor.'

Six tried not to flinch at her words, at the memories of the Jedi falling at the hands of their partners in battle, but it brought back such vivid, terrible memories that for a few moments he was lost in them.

Rune too, lapsed into silence as she reflected how she would never have known that Palpatine destroyed Anakin to make way for the emergence of Darth Vader, who had implemented a reign of terror across the galaxy. Gentle and brave Anakin, who would come and laugh with the younglings and teach them little moves and techniques with their sabres and thrill them with his stories. She always thought he had seemed sad inside. Never an evil monster.

She would know Anakin when she was in his presence, she was sure, even with his mask on. Or she would have if she could have connected with the Force. It was there on the edges of her mind. If she could just get a little stronger she felt sure it would come back to her. But she wasn't getting stronger, she was getting weaker each day. This sharing of stories felt cathartic, healing in many ways, lending her a clarity of thought, but the effort of speaking was becoming harder and harder. She wondered if her body would hold on long enough for them to get help. And as she started to lose consciousness again she couldn't bring herself to feel troubled at the knowledge that it possibly wouldn't.

Six watching over her, could also see her weakening. He hoped that Contact was on time, he couldn't afford to be late. She was hanging by a thread.

As he watched her sleep he remembered that she hadn't said which Jedi had carried out the slaughter.

A few hours out from the rendezvous point and Rune was floating in and out of consciousness.

Six looked at her hollow face, her eyes were closed again, and he wasn't sure if she was lucid or not.

'Rune please hang on. You have to. After all, you saved my life, and the lives of everyone on board back on Ord Mantell. And we are going to save your life now.'

Her eyelids flickered but didn't open.

'My crew should have left without me' he mused, half talking to himself. 'They would have been killed or captured and still they were too frackin stubborn to leave. You saved them Rune, and you used the Force to do it. You are a Jedi again and not only that, you are one of us, a member of our crew'.

Rune stirred at this, and tried to speak through dry, cracked lips. 'Not true, I'm not a Jedi. And I may never be again.'

'But what then? How else could you have saved me? You must have had a vision that made you summon Inez, and you used the force to pull me into the ship. What other explana...tion...is there?' His voice faltered, there was another explanation now he thought about it.

Rune sighed. Even with her eyes still closed, she looked defeated.

'I'm not what you think, I'm a danger to you. You can't rely on me. I feel like I'm on the edge of darkness and light, I could fall either way and I don't seem to have any control over it…'

'You are a Jedi. We will not let you fall' Six stated emphatically, not knowing what else to say.

'Think about it. I'm afraid of being captured again, my ability shows me glimpses of the things that are a danger to me, things that I fear. It showed me the imperial blockade at Tatooine and I knew we had to get out of there. At first I thought it was a sign that the force was returning to me, that I could sense the enemy coming – but it wasn't that. We would have been obliterated if we hadn't jumped because those capital ships jumped out too close to the planet. The dark side didn't want me to be destroyed. It wanted me to survive so I could be captured.

The vision on Homestead? I think that was me genuinely using the force. If you had been captured or killed we wouldn't have been stuck, you gave us the means to summoned Contact. But those days on the planet were truly healing – I wasn't in pain or afraid, I was able to relax and focus only on communing with the force once again. And I think it was working.

I think I was able to re-establish a connection, not strongly, but enough I could far-see, and have a vision of the danger you were in. Enough that I could heal you and Dan when it really mattered. But those moments left me weaker, not stronger in the force.

The last time I used the force, it broke the connection again. It must have, because why can't I heal myself now? A Jedi can heal themselves – but a dark side user cannot. It seems to me, every time I use the good side I weaken, every time I use the dark side I grow more powerful.

On Ord, when I pulled you in to the ship, I was terrified that the Imperials would imprison me and take me to Vader. I was angry that they would try and kill and capture you and the rest of the crew to get at me. It was easy to pull you into the ship. So much easier than using the Force as a Jedi to move things. That was me using the dark side to get what I wanted.

Six still didn't say anything. he didn't quite know what to say, as he tried to process what she was telling him.

Don't you see? Fear and Anger, they are the dark side of the force. That is the easy path to follow. I have already taken steps down that path. It was so easy to save you; how easily could I help you destroy the Empire because I feel such hatred towards them?

She paused, gathering herself for what she had to say next.

Six inched closer despite himself, he felt those next few moments were going to be very important.

'I have been with those Inquisitors for eight years. Without realising it they taught me everything they know. It became a competition between them, to be the one that would turn me. I know what it is to use the dark side. They would channel it through me so that I could feel what they did and how it felt to use the dark side. They wanted to tempt me with the incredible power they had at their fingertips.'

A teardrop wend its slow way down the hollows of her face as she remembered the terrible things she had witnessed. Six moved closer still, anxious to comfort her, not sure how to do that.

'What they never realised was they were teaching me how to beat them all. I know all the powers they use, their individual unique powers that no one else knows. Supposing I got strong enough to challenge Vader himself...?'

'No. No, it's not worth it. You need to keep hanging on, just like you have been doing all this time. You have never given in before and you won't now. Persevere and you will find the force again. And you will still know their secrets and you will find another way to defeat them'.

'Didn't you hear me? I cannot even heal myself, that is how far away the force is from me….It's so hard. I don't think this pain will ever end'.

She was sobbing now, her thin body wracked with grief. Without thinking Six put an arm around her bony shoulders and pulled her to his chest. When he realised what he had done his heart stopped beating in his chest for a moment.

But she didn't freak out, scream or fry him with force lightening. She simply rested her head against his chest and carried on sobbing, till her tears soaked his shirt. Finally, she was letting out all the grief for her lost child hood, for the unending pain and cold and hunger, for the loneliness, and for her unexpected salvation at the 11th hour when she had thought only to die.

After a little while Six found the courage to put his other arm around her. Holding her painfully thin frame in his arms he felt things he had never felt before. Protectiveness, tenderness... love?

some strange unknown part of him never wanted this moment to end.

And Rune, wrapped in his warm arms, she too felt something she had never felt before, something she couldn't describe. Like this was home. And she gently let go any remaining fear of Six...

After her outburst she fell asleep in Six arms. He held her quietly, not wanting to let her go. But eventually, with only an hour before their rendezvous with Contact, she stirred and Six realised he needed to share his plans with her. Gently he propped her up against her pillow and looked seriously into her eyes.

'Rune we are meeting my Contact soon, the one who gives us our missions and coordinates this rebellion of ours. We know there is another resistance movement out there, operating throughout the Empire as we do but much larger than ours - and we have managed to find one of their number, Tia who you met at dinner last night. Now I need to formally approach the resistance Leaders. To forge an alliance between our groups if I can. But there is no denying, it could still turn out to be an imp trap, or they might kill us because they think we are imps.

So, I am going to ask Contact to take you with him for a little while. I have not told him you are a Jedi, and - I am not going to. I cannot go to meet a group of armed strangers with a Jedi in tow, even a secret one. It's not safe for you – or us. They might have a Jedi – or an Inquisitor of their own who will sense your power. And you are getting weaker every hour Rune and we have no more medicine on board. Contact will have some, he will make you better. And when you are strong I will come and get you – if you still want me to – I promise.

Rune stared at him for the longest time until he wondered if she was going to answer him. But eventually she blinked and nodded. I feel nothing about this, no premonition of doom, no feeling of it being the right thing either. I don't want to leave, but I don't want to put you all in danger. If you think it's best then I must go. But' she paused and wrung his hand with what little strength she had left 'you must keep your promise and come back for me'.

'I will' murmured Six knowing in his heart that he didn't feel like leaving her was the best thing to do at all.

At his words she seemed to relax and she closed her eyes as she slid back towards sleep. The monitor beeped a warning. Her vital signs were weakening. 'Just hold on a little longer' he told her 'we are nearly there'. He held her hand and tried to ignore the dread in his heart.

It made him jump when suddenly her eyes flew open and she spoke with great urgency, clinging to his hand like a life-line. 'Six, you must trust me, you must come for me, no matter what' her words slowed abruptly and then slurred as her eyes closed as if weighed down by rocks. 'Trust…in….me.'

And she was gone, deeply unconscious according to the monitor. Her words haunted him. It was if at the last moment she had seen something, a vision – but brought to her by the force or by the dark side he could not tell.

The siren rang through the Kraken, signalling their imminent drop out of hyperspace. Six tore himself away from Rune and went to find Torri. Torri knew where they were heading, and the plan to leave Rune with Contact. But they hadn't really discussed what was going to happen to the Defel. Six didn't want to tell Contact he had on board a lone warrior from a near mythical race, meant as a gift destined for Vader himself, any more than he wanted to tell him that Rune was a Jedi. But Torri had appointed himself Runes guardian and he might demand to stay with her.

Six rehearsed what he was going to say to Torri on the way to the mess. He guessed that was the place where he would find the Defel, chatting amiably with Inez over a large pot of tea. Sure enough, the incongruous pair were huddled together, talking seriously and sipping steaming hot tea.

Inez beckoned him over as soon as she saw him. 'I was just telling Torri we think there is a leak in Contacts team'. Six was startled but relieved. He and Inez were usually on the same wavelength. He felt a bit sheepish about putting her in that position, but he didn't regret it. When it came to giving out orders he had no qualms. But with Torri he was on rocky ground, he was crew, but only recently – and he could leave at any time. A bit more finesse was needed here and Inez was always so much better at persuasion than he was.

'Was the leak not Xinn?' enquired Torri politely as Six sat down beside them. He didn't seem angry or anxious at being asked to stay on board.

Inez shook her head. 'I did wonder that myself briefly' she admitted. 'But when I thought about it I realised that if Xinn had informed anyone if would have been the imps, not the Crimson Dawn. They would have drafted in lots more ships to protect the Vortex and its precious cargo.'

Six had warned Contact about the possible leak soon after the ambush by the Dawn. There had been plenty of time to investigate and turn up the traitor. Six would ask him what he had found when he saw him face to face. In the meantime he didn't intend to mention either of the prisoners. And if Contact had found the leak? Well, then he would make his decision.

After some thought, Torri reluctantly agreed to stay hidden on board. He was hesitant to leave Rune, but he knew as well as anyone that right now the Empire was looking for a female Jedi and an invisible alien. Rune on her own, should be able to hide in plain sight. But not with him there she couldn't.

Inez rubbed his arm encouragingly. It seemed they were all anxious about leaving Rune, even though it made such obvious sense. The large alien stood and bowed before heading off to return to his favourite hiding places from his first days on board.

'I never told Contact the name of the crew member who was sick' said Six thoughtfully after he had gone. 'I think I will tell him Runes name is Kit. Apart from you, Inez, I never talk to him about the crew, he just knows their names and that's it. That should remove suspicion that Rune could be the missing Jedi even further. Trouble is Rune is unconscious so I am not going to be able to warn her she has a new name'.

'It's a good idea. And she's pretty quick on the uptake. She'll figure it out when she wakes up and they call her Kit.'

As soon as they emerged from hyperspace Kehl scanned the sleek cruiser gleaming in front of them. The Moonbeam hailed them and at a nod from Six, Kehl set an intercept course.

'Boss' ventured the pilot after he had laid in their course. 'I have – a feeling….'

Six looked at him enquiringly and Kehl shrugged. 'Something aint right'

Six nodded thoughtfully. 'Somehow those imps are catching us up quicker and quicker. I am going to put a limit of 2 hours on this visit. We can't afford for them to catch up to us this time.'

Kehl shrugged again. He still looked uncomfortable.

Contact was waiting impatiently as the Kraken put down in the docking bay along with a medical crew and a group of technicians with droids. He rushed up the ramp as soon as it extended and folded Six into a warm hug, clearly excited to see his old friend. When he saw Inez he swept her into the hug as well. 'You must be Inez – I have heard so much about you! All good!' he bellowed. Inez had never met another clone before. She could tell at a glance that while they may look the same, they had very different personalities. Where Six was reserved and stern, Contact was apparently genial and very loud. Ebullient, even. Who knew?

After a few moments Six withdrew enough to introduce the rest of the crew including Tia and Harb.

Inez took the opportunity to back away and escort the awaiting medical team to 'Kit'. She didn't like how touchy-feely Contact was, Six would rather eat Rodian Bitter Nettle tea leaves than hug someone, it didn't feel right.

She watched over them as they transferred the unconscious girl onto a repulsorlift and transported her off the Kraken and to their bacta tank. She felt uneasy. She hadn't expected to meet Contact, who had been so secretive up until now. But then, he was a clone like Six. It didn't really matter if she saw his face – he looked exactly the same as hundreds of thousands of other clones. She would never be able to pick him out of a line up if she was captured. Still, it broke protocol. And she didn't want to let Rune go when it came to the crunch. She realised that was what was really making her feel bad. But Six had promised they would come back for her. It wasn't for ever.

Contact sent his technical crew on board to sweep the ship for bugs. Star and Harben stuck to them like glue, intrigued to see how they worked. The technicians mostly seemed to rely on the droids they deployed across the ship and Star was thrilled when the chief said he was going to programme one of her own droids to be able to run bug-identifying diagnostics. Checking for bugs was something that Kit had always done himself in the past, and Star had not enjoyed taking on that responsibility – especially as she hadn't found any. But then, she didn't understand why Kit hadn't found them either during one of his many routine checks.

The technicians soon solved that puzzle for her. As soon as one of the droids located a bug, the technicians examined it at length. 'Clever design – imperial' announced the senior officer at last. 'It lays dormant until needed. Your mole will have been sending a regular signal while on board to stop it activating, say once every 24 hours or even more. That is why your tech won't have picked up on it. Once the mole left the ship and stopped sending the signal, the bug will activate as soon as it doesn't receive the signal on time. And it will start sending a signal the mole can follow. But this bug is also sending another local signal, presumably to another bug – or bugs. If and when this bug is detected and incapacitated so it stops sending its signal, the next bug in the sequence will activate and so on. Like I say, its clever – you think you have found the bug, but you have just activated a new one to take its place. Now we know about this signal we should be able to flush out the rest'.

Star glanced at her chronometer. 'You have less than an hour to get them all'

Seven bugs later and the techies were confident all bugs had been removed from the ship. B3, Stars favourite droid, was now loaded with the new diagnostic, and Rune was floating unconscious in a bacta tank on board the cruiser. The Kraken had her fuel and medical supplies replenished, Six had a full credit stick in his hand.

It had been so good to see his friend again. They had reminisced and enjoyed a few shots of finest Corellian whisky together. Six had asked him if he had found the leak yet, but Contact had had no luck, though he had set a few traps. He kinda thought that maybe the Crimson Dawn had their own intel, they probably didn't need any goody-two shoes outfits like theirs telling them where the best loot was. In some respect's Six could see his point. But he still didn't tell his former brother in arms about Rune or Torri.

Now there was nothing left to do, it was time to leave, they had only a few minutes. Six struggled to make his feet turn up the ramp. Even Kehl looked disturbed. 'Are you sure we should be leaving Rune here?' he muttered to Six under his breath.

Six nodded firmly. But he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.

'See you on the other side' bellowed Contact, striding across the docking bay to whack his old friend on the back and then envelop him in a hug. 'Happy hunting my old friend. Bring me some good news, yeah?'

Six squeezed his friend and stepped back on to the ramp. 'Roger that. Just get my crew member better, I will be back for her before you know it.' He turned and headed up the ramp so Contact couldn't see his concern. His crew followed.

Chapter 28

**End Game**

Contact watched the Kraken leave, grinning broadly. Everything had fallen into place so neatly he could barely believe it. Six would go now and make contact with the resistance at last. He would find out their secrets and report back.

The future looked bright in deed.

He commed the bridge and gave his pilot directions for their next jump and went to look at the girl in the bacta tank. She was emaciated, with close cropped hair; he could see that much, but the red bacta fluid made it difficult to see the scarring on her body or the finer detail of her features.

He turned on his heel and headed for his quarters. He had a report to send, and then he wanted to get some rest. He had an exciting few days ahead.

Mattesta was gleeful, they had been so close to the Kraken. And they would get closer with every jump. Soon they would have their prey. Xinn had planted plenty of bugs, and the hapless rebels hadn't even found the first one yet.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he jumped when the alert on the holoprojector pinged.

'Lord Vader' Never had he stood before the Sith Lord so confidently, his shoulders were squared. He was going to win that Admiralty Vader had promised him.

'Mattesta. You and your team will join me on Coruscant'.

The shock was clearly visible on Mattesta's face. 'But my Lord, we are so close to catching your prisoners, soon we will have the insurgents and the Jedi and your creature. They cannot escape us now.'

Vader regarded him.

Mattesta replayed his words in his head. It didn't take a genius to know you didn't contradict a Sith Lord. His collar felt tight and he didn't know if it was Vader or his imagination. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly very dry.

'Yes my Lord' he squeaked. 'It will be my honour' he added as an afterthought, trying to regain some ground.

'Do not delay.'

Mattesta nodded and the transmission was cut as he sagged against his desk, sweat blooming on his upper lip at the thought of his narrow escape.

Deckard and Xinn looked at him in equal parts puzzlement, shock, and in Xinns case, anger. He shrugged weakly. He had no idea what was going on.

He gave the order to the bridge and in short order they felt the smooth transmission out of hyperspace so that the recalculation could begin.

Xinn was the first to find her voice 'I don't understand, how can he do this to us? We have them on the run, it's only a matter of time.'

Deckard managed to regain her composure and spoke with a measured air, designed to annoy Xinn to the maximum. 'We know the ship was heading to some random coordinates in deep space. They're on the run, and they know we're close. They wouldn't go anywhere without a reason so they must have had a rendezvous planned. They met someone there. And maybe that someone betrayed them and laid a trap for them. Maybe they've already been caught.'

'No way' blurted Xinn frantically pressing buttons and scanning her screen.

Mattesta looked beseechingly at Deckard. 'That can't be right…. We found them, they're ours, why would Vader have another team after them as well?'

Deckard shook her head. She knew how the Emperor worked. 'Wheels within wheels. Who knows? It's only a guess based on the pieces of the jigsaw we are privy to.'

There was a strangled cry from Xinn. 'The signal from the Kraken is late. That means Star found not just one, but all my bugs – in the space of an hour! You're right' she added grudgingly, 'they did run into someone'.

Deckard fixed Mattesta with her cool gaze. 'But you're not dead. So just may be, Vader still has a use for us .'

Rune opened her bleary eyes as best she could, and after a certain amount of blinking and squinting, was able to make out the shape of a droid looming above her. Her eyelashes seemed heavy, almost glued together, so that it took huge effort to hold them open long enough to recognise anything at all.

Flashes of effort showed her this wasn't a droid from the Kraken. She didn't recognise its type as it came closer, so close she almost expected to feel its breath upon her cheek. Just when she began to feel afraid, it administered some kind of cooling wipe across her eyes and the next time she opened her eyes it took no effort at all, and the droid was receding, standing upright as it scanned her.

She ignored it and gazed around the room in wonderment. She could see clearly that she was in some kind of pristine and roomy med bay. So not the med-cupboard then. Definitely not the Kraken. With a rush her memories flooded back. Of Inez and Star. And Six. He had given her away. She felt uneasy, like something was coming, something bad.

She bit her lip, and looked around apprehensively. Her surroundings seemed strangely familiar, some distant memory was tugging at the back of her brain.

Before she could place it, the doors swished open and for a second her heart stopped beating as Six appeared before her. But in the next second she could tell from his beaming smile and open arms that it was not Six after all.

'So you're awake! I'm Contact. And very pleased I am, to be able to greet you at last. Six spoke so very highly of you! Now, there is someone that is very keen to meet you.' He nodded to the droid who began to assist her out of bed, even though she had made no indication that she wished to move.

To her surprise, movement came easily. She didn't ache anywhere, she had energy. She stood up and found that she was perfectly able to stand and walk without assistance.

She could feel the Force at the edges of her mind, maybe a little stronger than before. Enough to know that something was wrong. She could sense its currents swirling agitatedly. Something was happening, no, something was coming….. something that wasn't this clone before her.

Warily she took the arm that Contact offered her and walked with him out of the med-bay. Again she had the sense she was somewhere familiar. But when she tried to sense if she was in danger she got nothing. Her health had been returned to her, but not her control of the force.

Contact didn't try to make conversation with her, he seemed intent on taking her to their destination as quickly as possible. As if he feared she would change her mind and start to resist. She had an urge to do so, but then what good would that do her? She wanted to find out what was going on. Better to go willingly than be made to. She didn't know why, but she had the strong feeling she _would_ be made to.

She reached out for the force again, but it remained a distant sensation. If only she had more time, she felt like she could connect to it once again. But time was a commodity she did not possess, they had reached some grandiose double doors that seemed to be their destination. Contact took a slight step back, but she barely noticed.

She knew now why the place seemed familiar. Those doors had the same styling as the Jedi Temple. She had the strongest feeling this _was_ the Jedi Temple, but altered somehow, darker and no longer a place of light…..

Before she could pursue that thought any further, the doors opened and she thought her heart would stop.

There in front of her was Darth Vader.

Was she still asleep? Was this a night mare? No, there was no mistaking him.

'Come' he commanded, drawing her in.

Her feet took a step forward without any conscious effort. And then her heart really did skip a beat. For there behind him was his master, the Emperor. She had never met the Sith Lord before, but there was no mistaking him. Cold evil radiated from his presence.

'Greetings Rune. Come stand before me my young apprentice'.

She felt a nudge from Contact behind her and somehow she found herself stood in front of the Emperor. Vader stood to her side. Deep inside she knew that this time there was no escape, no defiance she could express.

The Emperor looked her slowly up and down, leering at her, enjoying her disgust. She felt defiled. But she didn't feel afraid anymore and she didn't move. She lifted her chin and glared back at him. She was his apprentice. Somehow, she had known it all along.

Vader was not the right Master for her. Only the Sith who's far-seeing ability had allowed him to build a galactic empire from nothing, was the one who could truly teach her the secrets of the universe. This was what she had been heading towards, may be all her life. In that moment she knew he had engineered this just as patiently and skilfully as he had brought Anakin to him before, as he had brought about the fall of the Republic and of the Jedi. She had one last secret to learn.

End of Episode 1.

Episode 2 to follow shortly!


	16. Chapter 16

Epilogue

During my eight years in captivity, I was never tempted by the Inquisitors. No matter what they did to brutalise me, to tempt me, to force me into submission, I never turned to the dark side.

And when they finally accepted I was dying and they would never win, they sent me to Vader. He wouldn't have turned me either. I was not afraid of him or them, not ever. Everyone I had ever cared about was dead, and the kind of power they craved held no lures for me.

There was only one person I truly feared, and that was Palpatine.

I'm a far seer. It's who I am. I learnt the way of the Jedi, while I was in the Temple: to wield a sabre, to obscure another's perception, and to heal. But it was far-seeing that I worked at, that I excelled at, that I loved.

And yet, it was a dying art. Few were the Jedi that had the far sight by then. It was becoming harder and harder to see into the future; the skill was slowly ebbing away. So slowly, no one even realised they were under attack. Looking back, I knew with every bone in my body that it was Palpatine who had prevented the Jedi from seeing what was ahead. Such was his power and his skill and his cunning.

He used the dark side to not only strengthen himself but to obscure the future from the Jedi. And as he grew in political power, he was able to draw them deeper and deeper into the machinations of the senate, weakening them further and faster. Strengthening the dark cloud of obfuscation over Coruscant until no one could see what was coming: their own obliteration.

Even as a child I had felt his presence. Not as a person, but like an absence of sunlight in one spot of sky, a dark vortex on the edge of my nightmares, a blood stain on a perfect painting. When I used my ability, it was as if there was a tiny dead patch in my vision. A patch that grew and swelled over time, that called to me, and that I would fight to keep at bay. I thought there was something wrong with me at first. I realised too late it wasn't me, it was a force user somewhere out there in galaxy. Him.

And now that my collar was removed, he called to me again. But this time I couldn't fight him, and I could not get away from him. That black hole in my vision was sucking me in inexorably.

I thought of all that Palpatine had achieved, how he manipulated events with actions taken years in advance. Planting the seed that created a clone army big enough to fight a galactic scale war – that in turn caused the opening he needed to become Chancellor. Programming the clones to carry out Order 66 and destroy the Jedi – the only force for good that could stand between him and his Emperorship. Obscuring their vision. Nurturing the dark side in Anakin from a young age so that he would be the strong right arm and unstoppable enforcer of his rule. There was no doubt in my mind that Palpatine brought all this about through his ability to far-see.

And if I could come out the other side of this black hole with the chance to see into the force as clearly as he must do, then how would I resist that?

He was the only one who knew exactly how to turn me. There was no fighting it. He had for-seen it. And so had I.

Thank you so much for reading to the end of this episode. It means so much to me, that you made it this far!

Episode 2 now begins in a new story: 'Cell 66 - Rise of the Three', live in my stories right now.

Classified: RMG – Internal


End file.
